Saxony-Anhalt faces a potentially severe worsening of its already critical shortage of doctors, according to the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KV) in Magdeburg, as reported by Spiegel. According to KV representative Michael Borrmann, nearly 200 general practitioners are aged 65 or older, with several reaching 85 years of age or beyond. Borrmann warned that if these doctors retire without replacements, nationwide underprovision of healthcare is likely to become a real problem.
The situation is already dramatic today. Borrmann stated that over 170 general practitioner positions are currently unfilled in Saxony-Anhalt. The KV predicts that nationwide, more than 300 medical professionals will be missing in four years, and the number of vacant positions could increase to over 500 by then. Furthermore, more than half of the approximately 14,400 doctors in Saxony-Anhalt are over the age of 50, while the number of physicians under 30 is extremely small, standing at only 887.
The predicament is particularly worrying in the sparsely populated Altmark region in the north of the state. In some areas, there is already a lack of specialists in general medicine, dermatology, ophthalmology and neurology, as well as in child and adolescent psychiatry.
