In autumn 2020, the state parliament passed a kind of country doctor quota for medical students with a large majority. This requires a country doctor law. The work on it drags on.
Erfurt (dpa/th) - It is still unclear when the planned country doctor quota for medical study places at the University of Jena will come about. The quota and associated regulations would have to be set in the new Thuringian country doctor law, which is currently in the works, said a spokeswoman for the state health ministry on request. However, it is currently not foreseeable when the draft law can be dealt with in the cabinet and in the state parliament. The original schedule could not be met due to the corona pandemic.
Almost two years ago, the state parliament agreed that six percent of the study places in Jena should be reserved for applicants who have previously committed themselves to work in regions affected or threatened by a shortage of medical care. The state parliament resolution stipulated that this quota for general practitioners and specialists should apply from the winter semester 2021/2022. At the same time, the number of medical study places in Jena had already been increased in this context. 286 first-year students are now admitted there every year, up from 260 previously. Thuringia wants to counteract a feared shortage of doctors by increasing the number of study places and the advance quota.
The 6 percent quota for medical applicants who want to practice their profession in "areas with special public needs" is already included in the Thuringian ordinance on the allocation of university places. The Ministry of Science responsible for this has published the regulation in the Thuringian Law and Ordinance Gazette - with the restriction that it can only come into force once the Country Doctors Act has come into force.
According to the Ministry of Health, anyone who wants to study medicine above this quota must sign a contract with the state. This is intended to regulate the rights and obligations of students during and, above all, after their training. This applies, for example, to a specific commitment period and contractual penalties in the event of violations - i.e. when quota students do not want to work in areas with a shortage of doctors after their training.
