Charité Hospital Doctors Strike for Better Conditions: Canceled Procedures and Demands for Pay raise

surrender Doctors at the Charité in Berlin are on strike on Thursday for better working conditions and more pay. The Marburger Bund union has called for a strike. She called on all 2,700 doctors at the three Charité locations in Berlin to stop work on Thursday.

The strike is expected to last 24 hours and end at midnight on Thursday. In the morning a rally was held on Robert-Koch-Platz. According to the Charité, all planned and non-urgent procedures have been cancelled. Time-critical tumor operations and transplants are performed and emergencies are treated, the Charité said. Affected patients have been notified.

The Union wants a substantial wage increase

The background to the strike is the ongoing coalition between the Marburger Bund union and the Charité. Negotiations began in January. The union wants much more salaries for doctors. In the new collective agreement they should be guaranteed a salary increase of 12.5 percent. The union also wants an increase in night charges and the introduction of a new charge for working at peak times. According to the Marburger Bund, the work of doctors at the Charité is undervalued. Overtime and extra work have become the norm, and there is no end to the burden in sight.

The Charité board had already worked out in January what the requested salary increase would mean. Doctors at the Charité currently earn 7,000 euros per month. A wage increase of 12.5 percent would mean they would receive 1,000 euros more. According to the Charité board, this would lead to additional costs of 55 million euros. That would be a huge financial burden on the Charité, it was said. The head of the Marburger Bund Berlin/Brandenburg said at the start of the coalition in January: “Strikes are the last resort.” The goal is meaningful conversations.

Germany does not have 50,000 doctors

The German healthcare system is under great pressure and the industry is suffering from a shortage of skilled workers. Above all, there is a shortage of family doctors. In the last ten years, 50,000 doctors have been trained. Health Minister Karl Lauterbach warned in an interview with ARD in mid-April that there would soon be a shortage of family doctors.

Lauterbach plans to improve the situation with legislation. For example, he wants to ease the financial burden on GP practices with a “flat rate” for chronically ill patients. The Bundestag must now consider it.

According to the Minister of Health Lauterbach, the problem with the lack of doctors is the low number of examination places. But the states opposed the expansion because they would have to fund the additional study places.