The first hospital demo of the new year will take place on January 14th on the Domplatz in Havelberg.
Havelberg l After a short break at the turn of the year, the members of the association “Pro Havelberg Hospital“Now really going again. On Thursday, January 14th, the first protest of the new year will take place on the cathedral square. Interested citizens are welcome at 12 noon. Works council chairwoman Sandra Braun sent a letter to her former colleagues. The message is: “The door is not closed yet!”
On January 10, it was exactly one year since the news of the intended closure of the Havelberger Hospital has spread. In the letter, which was written after a virtual conference with club members, she sums up the struggle for preservation and reports on things that the employees have learned in the past year. For example, that the Bertelsmann Foundation is not about books, but about recommendations for downregulating the hospital landscape, or that hospital operators receive reward money from the state for closing wards or entire houses.
Members support round table
“Up to now we thought we were safe. We were naive and clueless. And now we have been fighting for a year in the struggle for basic medical care here in the Havelberg region, for 20,000 people and for the remunicipalisation of the health system in Germany. “
In their further struggle, club members are in contact with different people. As Sandra Braun and the deputy works council chairwoman Anke Görtz report, for example they had a phone call with the managing director of the Salus subsidiary, Hans-Joachim Fietz-Mahlow. In addition to the Johanniter, Salus is under discussion as a possible partner for the continuation of medical care in Havelberg. They also made contact with the State Secretary in the Ministry of Social Affairs Beate Bröcker (SPD) and the chairman of the Saxony-Anhalt Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians, Dr. Jörg Böhme (CDU), who belongs to the Stendal district council. The chairman of the “Pro Krankenhaus” association, Holger Schulz, is in contact with another member of the district council. Henning von Katte von Lucke (Pro Altmark) had suggested a round table on the subject of the Havelberg Hospital in a district council meeting. “I wrote to him that we were in favor of such a move in order to counteract the current political stalemate and have already received an answer from him,” reports Holger Schulz. He expects that the round table will be proposed in the next district assembly. The association would then like to participate in this.
Nationwide network to get lobby
The association’s legal action against the district administrator with the aim of ensuring that the district fulfills its obligation to provide health care is still ongoing. The social court referred the complaint to the administrative court. Holger Schulz continues to report that they have requested and received a reply from the district administrator. “Now we are waiting to find out whether the administrative court will accept the lawsuit.” The association is represented by a lawyer in the course of action.
Because the association is committed to remunicipalising hospitals in addition to the fight for 24-hour medical care seven days a week in Havelberg, members are making contact with other closed hospitals. Last year alone, 20 clinics across Germany were closed. “It’s always the same procedure, money and personnel are saved and then closed, there is a system behind,” says Sandra Braun. “We want to get in contact with these institutions to exchange opinions and ideas. Perhaps a nationwide network will develop from this, which will strengthen us so that we can get a lobby in the state parliament or in the Bundestag. “
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