Luxembourg must address equipment and doctor shortages

Dr Berna emphasised the need to adapt the healthcare system and increase its capacities. "We must have the courage to plan further ahead," he stated, noting that Luxembourg's system might not be "the most agile" in this regard. He welcomed the government's announcement to extend breast and colon cancer screening to younger age groups, starting at age 45. However, he stressed that additional resources are necessary to support these procedures.

Addressing long waiting times, Dr Berna clarified that urgent cases receive immediate attention. Long waits mainly affect "elective examinations", such as screenings. When asked if extending screenings might worsen waiting times for mammograms or colonoscopies, Dr Berna explained that it essentially boils down to a matter of supply and demand or, in this case, demand and supply.

For some examinations, there is a shortage of equipment, while for others, there is a lack of doctors. The latter is the case, for example, for colonoscopies. For MRIs, there is still a lack of equipment, despite adding more devices and extending examination hours to weekends. Currently, waiting times for MRIs average around one month. Similar shortages exist for mammograms and PET scans (used to examine tumours and organ diseases, editor's note). Dr Berna suggested that some regulations might have been too rigid or may not fully consider the impact of population growth.

Addressing the challenge of recruiting more doctors for colonoscopies, Dr Berna highlighted the need to make the profession more appealing. While remuneration is generally "not bad at all," other factors such as quality of life and professional opportunities also play a crucial role. Dr Berna criticised Luxembourg's lag in medical education, noting that historically, the country has trained five times fewer caregivers than neighbouring countries and lacks complete training programmes for doctors.

A national contact point?

Dr Berna suggested that a single point of contact for all requests is feasible. While such a system did not exist in hospitals until recently, improvements are underway. However, establishing a national contact point is more challenging due to hospitals operating with different information systems. Dr Berna recommended better communication between hospitals as a more practical solution.

Regarding the planned outpatient care reform, Dr Berna stressed that hospitals and external services should operate under the same framework conditions, including obligations, working conditions, and remuneration.