City council also supports the St. Georg Clinic with the default guarantee · Leipziger Zeitung

It was only dealt with briefly. But the proposal “Ensuring the financial performance and investment capacity of the St. Georg Hospital gGmbH” also made it clear what it means when the federal and state governments shift a large part of the financing of hospitals onto the municipalities. The necessary investments in the millions are then indirectly reflected in the budget. The St. Georg Hospital is irreplaceable for the entire region, said Christian Schulze (SPD) and Katharina Krefft (Greens) on August 21.

This was also a topic at the April council meeting. The specific issue was the 36 million euros that had to be raised to cover the hospital’s annual deficit for 2023.

This time it was about the default guarantee that the city has to provide so that the hospital can even take out the necessary loans for its upcoming construction projects: “The City of Leipzig was approved by the State Directorate of Saxony to take over the modified default guarantee in favor of Klinikum St. Georg gGmbH in the amount of EUR 69.7 million, but under the suspensive condition that the legally compliant coverage of the agreed support services is confirmed with this submission,” says the city’s proposalwhich was put to a vote in the council meeting on August 21.

And further: “The approval of the guarantee is, however, necessary for obtaining a loan of EUR 69.7 million for the new hospital building – Central Building II. A delay or demolition of the new hospital building would have serious consequences for the public health care system in the city of Leipzig.

If the guarantee and thus the loan fail, the current difficult financial situation of Klinikum St. Georg gGmbH would deteriorate significantly and Klinikum St. Georg gGmbH would only be able to pay its debts in the future with the support of the City of Leipzig.”

The “current difficult financial situation”

However, the focus on the “current difficult financial situation of the Klinikum St. Georg gGmbH” is of course too narrow. Many municipal hospitals are now struggling with this, as they have to ensure municipal care in their region, but whose services are not adequately remunerated by health insurance companies. The entire German hospital system is in trouble. And basic care in particular is significantly underfunded.

It’s just that politicians would rather discuss the privatization of hospitals instead of finally getting the financing in order and putting an end to the negative developments, especially when it comes to expensive and unnecessary treatments.

In addition, the state is more than stingy in its financing of investments in hospitals. These investments are a state responsibility. But they would rather save up a billion-euro fund for future civil servants than meet the basic investment needs of the municipalities.

The difficult situation at St. Georg is therefore not caused by the hospital itself.

And the reminder that the hospital is irreplaceable if you think about major disasters in the area was also necessary. This will probably have to be said more often in the future if finance ministers continue to hoard the citizens’ tax money with the wrong mindset.

In any case, the current city council majority in Leipzig supports the municipal hospital. With 47 votes and nine abstentions, it approved the administrative proposal for a default guarantee for St. Georg.