On Monday morning, our colleagues from RTL Radio spoke to the president of the Federation of Luxembourgish Hospitals (FHL) about rising tensions in the healthcare sector.
Dr Turk emphasised that there are 20 different people on the administrative board of the Hospital Federation, which necessarily increases the political diversity of the organisation. He further stressed that the FHL is politically independent.
Asked about criticism from the Association of Doctors and Dentists (AMMD) that a lack of focus on strengthening primary care has resulted in an increased demand for hospital care, Dr Turk stated that the AMMD is spreading trivialised falsehoods.
All across Europe, he elaborated, hospitals are struggling with personnel shortages. This problem has been known for years, not just since 14 days. Dr Turk thus refused the notion of a doctoral exodus and underlined that recruitment is an ongoing process.
Although the physician ensured that he has concrete statistics on the situation, he was unwilling to discuss them during the interview. However, he acknowledged that the situation at the Centre Hospitalier du Nord (CHdN) in Ettelbruck has become particularly precarious since six cardiologists handed in their resignation two weeks ago.
Not all doctors working in hospitals are unsatisfied with their employment conditions, said Dr Turk. Nevertheless, most find it more comfortable to work from private offices since that allows them to maintain more regular hours and tariffs. The FHL president thus questioned their sense of duty to patients, noting that they should still help guarantee the functioning of the country’s healthcare system.
Dr Turk admitted that unpaid on-call hours paired with the pandemic has certainly increased frustrations for some hospital employees and accelerated their desire to leave.
Asked about the draft law on ambulatory shifts, which was brought forward in light of the new MRI at the private Potaschberg Medical Centre, Dr Turk expressed his support, noting that not enough is known about the needs of the private healthcare sector.
However, he also warned that countries with a clear two-tier system often perform less well than the one in Luxembourg, which is why creative solutions are needed to guarantee the proper functioning of both systems.