BERLIN (dpa-AFX) – The Greens health politician Janosch Dahmen rejected the proposal for an emergency room fee under certain conditions as “misleading and dangerous”. “People with an acute medical problem must be able to rely on the fact that they will be helped in the emergency room at any time, regardless of their wallet,” said Dahmen of the German Press Agency in Berlin.
In many places, people with simple medical problems are already unable to find an appointment in a doctor’s office for weeks. “The currently incomplete basic care, especially that of general practitioners, means that some medical problems become emergencies in the first place.” Instead of making suggestions to the clinics for fines in the emergency room, care by general practitioners and paediatricians should be strengthened and offers such as round-the-clock home visit services and telemedical emergency treatment by the panel doctors should be expanded.
The Greens health politician responded to a push by the chief of panel doctors, Andreas Gassen. This advocates a fee for patients who come to the emergency room in the future without a prior telephone assessment. “Anyone who continues to go directly to the emergency room without first calling the control center may have to pay an emergency fee, because that costs the solidarity community more money and ties up medical resources unnecessarily,” Gassen told the editorial network Germany.
Dahmen added that the expansion of the supply of emergency service practices in the emergency rooms must now have priority. “With the upcoming emergency reform, we will ensure that the federal government is more binding.” For people in need, it shouldn’t matter which number you dial or where you go in the healthcare system. “You have to get help anytime, anywhere. Fees endanger patients and lead to a dead end.”/sk/DP/ngu