Infection rates worsen the situation for pediatricians in North Rhine-Westphalia.
“While the overall situation of pediatric care in North Rhine-Westphalia is at least computationally good, it is not ruled out that there may still be individual supply bottlenecks. This mainly affects more rural regions” said a spokesperson for North Rhine-Westphalia’s Health Minister Karl-Josef Laumann (CDU) to the Rheinische Post (Monday edition). In some planning areas, supply rates are below 100 percent, including the districts of Euskirchen, Oberbergischer Kreis, Olpe, Kleve, Höxter and Minden-Lübbecke, according to a ministry overview.
The spokesperson for the Westfalen-Lippe Chamber of Physicians (KV) said in an interview: “The shortage of young pediatricians is becoming more and more apparent. Currently, there are 15 open positions in Westfalen-Lippe, mainly in East Westphalia. At the same time, the search for pediatricians retiring due to age is challenging, even in cities like Bielefeld.” In Westfalen-Lippe, 28 percent of pediatricians are currently over 60 years old.
In North Rhine, there are currently 12 open positions, according to the KV Nordrhein. The spokesperson advised parents searching for a pediatrician’s appointment to call the patient service hotline at 116117 in case of problems, as the pediatric practices are very busy due to the high number of infections among children.