Magdeburg (dpa/sa) - An expert opinion is to clarify the long-term investment requirements in the hospitals in Saxony-Anhalt by the end of this year. The order for the report was launched on Friday. As the Ministry of Social Affairs in Magdeburg announced, experts are to determine the regional supply needs, the supply structures with emergency care and the emerging need for skilled workers by the year 2035. The possibilities of digitization and telemedical applications as well as foreseeable innovations should be included. The coalition committee had agreed on the key points at the beginning of May.
The project had sparked discussions for months. The three partners, CDU, SPD and FDP, disagreed about how quickly and how extensively the hospital landscape should be examined. According to the Saxony-Anhalt Hospital Society, the hospitals have accumulated an investment backlog of 1.5 billion euros.
Health Minister Petra Grimm-Benne (SPD) explained: "The faster the results are available, the faster we can make decisions for targeted investments. It's not about closing individual hospitals, it's about ensuring good medical care in our country will be set up for the future."
The expert report is to be prepared by the consulting firm Partnerschaft Deutschland (PD) - Advisors to the Public Sector GmbH based in Berlin. According to the ministry, it is a consulting company for the federal, state, local authorities and other public bodies and institutions that is 100 percent publicly owned. Like other states, the state of Saxony-Anhalt is also a shareholder.
