Pediatricians want to abolish sick leave for children with minor illnesses. “Parents can manage harmless illnesses themselves,” said the president of the pediatricians’ association BVKJ, Michael Hubmann Doctors newspaper.
More on the topic: pediatrician
Pediatricians: On hold at number 400
Child Health: Nine Myths About Child Health
Overload of pediatricians: “Some parents had to wait eight hours with their children”
Hubmann said it would amount to an “unnecessary use of pediatric resources” if pediatricians had to certify a harmless illness. “Above all, we simply cannot judge whether a parent has to stay at home to look after a child or whether this could be arranged differently within the family. Absurdly, this is exactly what the law requires of us.” Doctors’ practices are extremely unsuitable as “prosecution authorities for employers’ associations”.
Association boss sees “social damage”
The practices also created unnecessary work with certificates so that children with minor health problems could go back to daycare or school, said Hubmann. He gave the following example: “A child has a mosquito bite. The daycare center says: The child has a rash. So I get the dad from his editorial meeting. He picks up his son and comes to my practice.” Such a scenario is “no joke, it’s everyday life and a social harm.”
Last year, Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) announced relief for parents when applying for child sickness benefit. Until now, parents have had to present a medical certificate on the child’s first day of illness, if possible. In the future, according to Lauterbach, a visit to the doctor will only be necessary from the fourth day of illness.
Pediatricians want to abolish sick leave for children with minor illnesses. “Parents can manage harmless illnesses themselves,” said the president of the pediatricians’ association BVKJ, Michael Hubmann Doctors newspaper.
Hubmann said it would amount to an “unnecessary use of pediatric resources” if pediatricians had to certify a harmless illness. “Above all, we simply cannot judge whether a parent has to stay at home to look after a child or whether this could be arranged differently within the family. Absurdly, this is exactly what the law requires of us.” Doctors’ practices are extremely unsuitable as “prosecution authorities for employers’ associations”.