Magdeburg (dpa/sa) - The shortage of doctors in Saxony-Anhalt remains a problem, although there are more and more doctors in the state. Almost 10,000 doctors are currently practicing in the state, which is 2,000 more than 25 years ago, said the President of the Medical Association of Saxony-Anhalt, Uwe Ebmeyer, on Wednesday in Magdeburg. According to figures from the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians, almost a third of general practitioners and specialists are over 60 years old, and a good twelve percent are over 65. More and more doctors are working part-time, and the population is older and sicker than in other parts of the Federal Republic.
Ebmeyer and the head of the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians, Jörg Böhme, advocated increasing the number of medical study places. In addition, more medical students should be attracted from Saxony-Anhalt and kept here. Of the 9,820 university places, 1.7 to 1.8 percent are occupied by children from Saxony-Anhalt. Around 40 percent of them studied at one of the two faculties in Saxony-Anhalt. The quota must increase. However, it is also clear that the capacities in Halle and Magdeburg are currently fully utilized.
