With the "Doctors don't fall from the sky" campaign, University Medicine Oldenburg wants to emphasise its demand for adequate financing. The goal: more places to study medicine in Oldenburg.
With a signature campaign entitled "Doctors don't fall from the sky", University Medicine Oldenburg is calling on citizens throughout north-west Germany to support the demand for more places to study medicine at the University of Oldenburg. "We want to counteract the impending shortage of doctors in our region and train at least 200 instead of 120 students per year in future. However, the prerequisite for this is that the state government of Lower Saxony finally provides our location with adequate funding as promised," explains Prof Dr Ralph Bruder, President of the University of Oldenburg.
Citizens can support this appeal with their signatures. Patients can find information brochures, cards and collection boxes to hand in their signatures at the Oldenburg Clinic, the Evangelical Hospital Oldenburg, the Karl Jaspers Clinic and the Pius Hospital Oldenburg, as well as in more than 200 practices in the teaching practice network and in the academic teaching hospitals. The Lower Saxony Rural Women's Association Weser-Ems is also supporting the campaign and is calling on its members to take part. At uol.de/bestemedizin, citizens also have the opportunity to submit their signatures digitally. The collected signatures will be handed over to Minister President Stephan Weil in Hanover in June - just in time for the upcoming budget conference.
The background to the campaign is the impending shortage of doctors, particularly in the north-west. According to forecasts by the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians, there will be a shortage of more than 400 GPs and around 930 registered doctors in the region in around ten years' time. "From our own experience and many years of experience, we know that the place of training plays an important role in deciding where doctors spend their careers. During their studies, they get to know the regional medical infrastructure and gain the confidence that they can practice their academic appointment responsibly in this environment," says Oldenburg general practitioner Dr Maria Bösenberg, whose GP practice in the Lambertihaus has been a member of the UMO teaching practice network for many years. Patients can also take part in the signature campaign at her practice.
Medical studies and specialist training take around twelve years in total. "That's why the state government must finally increase the number of study places and allocate the necessary funds - both for the professorships required and for the buildings that have been urgently needed for years - in next year's budget. This would finally put the plans set out in the coalition agreement for 2022 into action," demands Prof Dr Hans Gerd Nothwang, Dean of School V - School of Medicine and Health Sciences.
Specifically, the aim is to gradually increase the annual state funding for the university - as agreed with the former state government in 2019 - from the current 36.3 million euros to 51 million euros and to support the cooperating hospitals with around 10 million euros annually for their additional costs. The original number of 40 students has risen to 120 and with it the number of professorships and staff at the School. However, the planned 200 study places have not yet been financed. In addition, the UMO needs its own buildings. The Planning Institute for University Development has identified a space deficit of around 20,000 square metres with an expansion stage of 200 medical students per year. Although the first construction phase for a research building on Pophankenweg is due to begin this year, the costs for the second construction phase, totalling around 84 million euros, have not yet been included in the budget. The UMO also urgently needs a teaching building. There is still no funding commitment for the construction costs of 83 million euros.