Surgical Problems in Rural Germany

Excerpt

For decades hospitals provided the backbone of surgical care in rural Germany. In 2004, a total of 2157 hospitals ensured that almost no German had more than 20 minutes to travel to receive acute or elective surgical care.1 Thus one might ponder if rural Germany really does exist. Many of these hospitals, however, are rather small and are often community run. Recently, rising health care costs and reduced budgets have resulted in decreasing hospital beds, emphasizing the need to reduce labor costs rather than think about hospitals’ closures or mergers. I live and work in the county of Tirschenreuth in Bavaria, with a population of less than 80,000,2 proudly running three acute care hospitals, each with its own surgical department. Over the years of my employment here, the number of beds in my hospital fell from 210 in 1989 to 160. …