German village turns to ‘medibus’ for treatment
CORNBERG: For years after the last doctor left the small German village of Weissenborn, 79-year-old former mayor Arno Maeurer had to rely on his car to reach the nearest clinic, as a chronic shortage of practitioners gripped his rural region.
But this year, a clinic started coming to him.
The Medibus is a complete doctor’s office in a red and yellow bus that sets up shop in the community of around 1,000 people for a few hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
“The day will come when I won’t be able to drive any more, so I’ll be totally dependent on the Medibus,” Maeurer said.
For the time being, he turns to the mobile practice now and then, but still sees his doctor when he isn’t completely booked up.
Every week the bus, set up by the Hesse state medical group, stops off in six villages in western Germany.
As in many areas of western Europe, they are afflicted both by an ageing population and a scarcity of practitioners to take care of them.
Medibus doctor Matthias Roth saw around 35 patients a day in the summer months, or roughly the same number as a traditional GP’s practice, the association said.
Around 70% of the patients were over 55 and 30% older than 76.
“It’s a full practice, we have everything on board to diagnose and care for patients,” Roth said.
Outside on the town square of Cornberg – population 1,600 – project supervisor Carsten Lotz from the medical association declared the project a “very big success”.
Across Hesse, more than 170 doctors’ posts are unfilled, according to data from the medical association.
Even the offer of a bonus of up to €
66,000 (RM315,400) over five years to those setting up in specific areas has failed to lure enough new blood, while doctors delaying retirement
€ are offered up to 2,000 (RM9,560) per quarter.
The shortage is so acute that the Medibus received a special exemption from a general ban on itinerant doctors.
Europe-wide, the problem of medical deserts is spreading, with falling numbers of generalists, a wave of older doctors retiring and their young successors looking for a more balanced lifestyle.
In the UK, the British Medical Association estimates that there are around 2,000 patients for every GP, and rural areas struggle to lure young doctors away from the cities, a spokesman said. — AFP