Church calls for transformation of the health system

EKD advocates reorientation of health policy

10/17/2011

In a recent memorandum, the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) called for a reorientation of health policy towards more solidarity. Although those responsible also have their limited economic resources in view, „Economic calculations alone are not enough when it comes to shaping health policy“, the Chairman of the Council of the EKD, President Nikolaus Schneider, warned at the presentation of the memorandum.

The memorandum of the EKD sometimes makes very concrete statements „to the health system in the narrower sense“, but also too „Questions of health policy and, finally, the responsibility of the communities“. The Protestant church sets the framework for one of their views „good health policy“ and gives „Recommendations for the future design“ of the health system, according to the statement of the EKD Council President at the presentation of the memorandum „And our sick neighbors too!“

For example, the EKD suggests that all types of income, and not just earned income, should be taken into account when calculating health and long-term care insurance contributions. Especially in the field of care, the costs will presumably increase massively in the coming decades, at the same time an improvement in the doctor-patient ratio would be required, said President Schneider. Significant additional financial resources are needed for this, according to the EKD assessment. In addition, the nurses' work processes also need time for the relationship with the patient. „Currently have“, according to the EKD Council Chairman, „Especially in nursing, the work processes so condensed that less and less time for the personal conversation, for sympathy and accompaniment remains.“ In order to remedy this in the interests of the patients, financial resources must also be taken in hand and additional nursing staff must be recruited, emphasized Präses Schneider.

Criticizing the marketing of the healthcare system
Social and communicative aspects and mental emergencies such as dementia need to be considered when designing the healthcare system „adequately considered“, said the EKD Council Chairman at the presentation of the current memorandum in Düsseldorf. The EKD also criticizes the „marketization“, which dominates the current development of medical care and the „public discourse on coping with medical conditions“ penetrates. In the opinion of the EKD, all other, older ones get here „Discourses such as the anthropological situation of acute and chronic patients, the professional self-definition of physicians, therapists and nurses, humanity in hospitals and ethics of medical organization“ in Oblivion. According to the memorandum, the views of the „Distributive justice in medical care“ sometimes neglected criminally. (Fp)

Picture: Gerd Altmann