Cutback shock for medical students: Brandenburg endangers health care!

Cutback shock for medical students: Brandenburg endangers health care!

The Brandenburg Medical School (MHB) is facing the threat of financial erosion. The state of Brandenburg plans to reduce the annual funding, which was recently at 6.6 million euros, to 5 million euros. This decision would have far-reaching consequences for the training of medical students and medical care in the country. Politicians, the state medical association and representatives of the student body have expressed concern about the upcoming cuts.

Since 2020, the MHB has already received 5 million euros for research and 1.6 million euros for the Faculty of Health Sciences. The district administrator of Ostprignitz-Ruppin, Ralf Reinhardt, warned of the consequences of the funding adjustment. He explained that 5 million euros is not enough to ensure the required strengthening of scientific research performance and identified the state as requiring 8 million euros annually. In a comparison with the investments in medical training in Cottbus, he called for the MHB to also be sufficiently supported.

Importance of the MHB for the region

In an open letter, Mayor Nico Ruhle of Neuruppin criticized the cuts and emphasized the central role of the MHB in the training of doctors and psychologists. The President of the State Parliament, Prof. Dr. Ulrike Liedtke warned of a weakening of the university and called for greater support for the institution.

The importance of the MHB for health care in Brandenburg was also emphasized by SPD member of the state parliament Britta Kornmesser. She announced that she would campaign for better conditions for medical professionals in the region. CDU politicians like Dr. Jan Redmann and Sebastian Steinke see the cuts as a threat to medical care in the country.

In addition, the State Medical Association criticized the financial cuts as short-sighted and warned that they could have a negative impact on medical training. The General Practitioners Association even described the cuts as an existential threat to health care.

Criticism of the cuts

The Brandenburg student council BRANDSTUVE also spoke out against the cuts and underlined the central importance of the MHB for local medical care. University spokesman Eric Alexander warned of “dramatic consequences” and pointed out that the funds were necessary to finance research assistants and professors.

The draft for the double budget, presented by the SPD/BSW coalition, envisages a further cut of 1.6 million euros per year. This measure has been sharply criticized by both the state parliament opposition, consisting of the AfD and CDU, and by the university itself. The MHB, which is predominantly non-governmentally funded and run by municipalities and non-profit organizations, currently has around 1,110 students.

In a broader context, the discussion about the MHB shows how important adequate university financing is. According to the education server, there are numerous challenges in university financing that also impact the MHB. The focus is particularly on the high number of students and the requirements for the supervision ratio in Germany. These financial challenges do not only exist for Brandenburg, but represent a nationwide problem. The University Rectors' Conference had pointed out that public financing is under great pressure and that many universities have already been affected in recent years.

MHB President Prof. Hans-Uwe Simon expressed optimism about the broad support and hopes that something can be changed in the budget planning. However, the concerns of politicians and experts suggest a critical development in higher education and health policy in Brandenburg.