Anyone who wants to go to their doctor’s office between the years could be out of luck: In protest against Federal Minister Karl Lauterbach’s health policy, medical associations have called for general practitioners’ and specialist practices nationwide to be kept closed between the years. The action planned for Wednesday to Friday is part of the “Praxis in Not” campaign, which is supported by more than 20 associations.
The Virchow Association of resident doctors expects that thousands of practices could remain closed. The practices were called upon to inform their patients about the closure, to refer them to the medical on-call service and to provide representation for urgent emergencies.
The board of the German Patient Protection Foundation, Eugen Brysch, criticized the announced strike because, in his view, it primarily affects old and weak people. Health Minister Lauterbach also showed no understanding for the doctors’ strike after Christmas and referred to the many cases of illness. Lauterbach wants to meet with the family doctors at a crisis summit in January to discuss the complained about overload and the amount of bureaucracy in the practices.
