Bavaria plans to change radical course: Citizens are no longer allowed to decide on hospitals!

Bavaria plans to change radical course: Citizens are no longer allowed to decide on hospitals!

In Bavaria it is bubbling: The reform of the rules for citizens' decisions is being considered. The latest occasion is the citizens' decision on the construction of a central hospital in the Weilheim-Schongau district. Over 52,000 participants, 67.2 percent, gave this clear removal and thus stopped the plans for the merging of the hospitals in Weilheim and Schongau. An action alliance had previously collected an impressive 8,300 signatures for the citizens' request, which unfortunately ended with a result of almost 70 percent against the new building plans. This decision, according to the managing director of Hospital Weilheim-Schongau GmbH, Thomas Lippmann, was clearly wrong and brings the situation of health care in the district into a precarious situation.

This debate is still heated by the impending closure of smaller clinics. Bavaria's Minister of Health Klaus Holetschek promoted the merger and poked the great uncertainties in health care. Andrea Jochner-Weiß, the district administrator, also perceived resignation in the faces of the citizens and expressed her disappointment. Problems such as lack of personnel and high costs are still in space, while the future of the two hospitals remains uncertain even after this coordination. "Small hospitals are difficult anyway," says Jochner-Weiß, and the concerned citizens urge that the plans are not simply taken up after a year.

changes for citizens' decisions on the march

A round table, moderated by Günther Beckstein, is currently discussing possible modalities for citizens' decisions in Bavaria. Among them is also the consideration of completely excluding citizen decisions in the event of hospital planning in the future in order to ensure that important projects run smoothly. This also applies in the light of the fact that more than 80 percent of Bavarian hospitals are in the loss zone. As a result, more and more voices are calling for reforms of the citizens' decisions to avoid blockages of such important projects. Your goal is to increase planning security and to support the decision -makers in developing the health infrastructure. Merkur reports that the deadlines for contestation by citizens' request should also be reformed to a brisk implementation of projects guarantee.

However, there are also critical voices. Daniela Puzzovio from the Action Alliance Pro Hospital is concerned about the possible exclusion of citizens' decisions in hospital planning and demands that the population should be able to have a say in such decisive matters. A sign of democracy, says Puzzovio, which gives great weight compared to frustration and resignation among the population. The population in other regions of Bavaria is also active-more than 45,000 people have signed an online petition for the preservation of the hospital in Mainburg. The challenges for the small hospitals are clearly noticeable and thus have a signaling effect beyond the district, such as Süddeutsche.

The changes and the results of the ongoing discussions are eagerly awaited. It is clear that health care in Bavaria is being put to the test in the long term and it urgently needs economic and political solutions so that citizens will not be lost.