Pediatrician President Thomas Fischbach has called for a fee for emergency treatments. For certain cases, he thinks “a personal contribution by the insured makes absolutely sense,” said the President of the Professional Association of Pediatricians (BVKJ) of the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung” on Monday. As an example, he gave parents who went to the emergency service at the weekend because of “pimples on the children’s buttocks” because they didn’t have time during the week.
“Emergency care must be focused on emergencies,” emphasized Fischbach. It is a pity that politicians do not really dare to tackle the issue for fear of headwinds. “The scarce emergency resources are used again and again by cases that do not urgently require action,” he criticized. “This has to end.”
The plans of the government commission to reform emergency care do not go far enough for Fischbach. Although the proposed emergency centers for children are “desirable”, there is a lack of pediatricians for a nationwide facility. “It would also be fatal if only specialists and not also doctors with sufficient training were allowed to take on emergency care,” said the association’s president. “Then we’ll lose even more workers – in practices and in clinics.”
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Last but not least, clearer rules are needed for patient management, “so that non-urgent cases are really referred to the practice instead of letting them go to the emergency center,” the pediatrician president continued.