By being denied access to comprehensive medical care, patients have been held hostage for a long time, says Alain Schmit, president of the AMMD. This in response to Paulette Lenert’s statement that the Potaschberg MRI can remain in operation for now because “patients had been taken hostage”.
An additional MRI scanner is a positive initiative aiming at offering patients better access to MRIs, said Schmit. Blocking this development is not the right way.
“Everyone has understood that there is insufficient access to MRIs, that we need an opening.”
Consultations with the Ministry of Health have not led anywhere, he said. While the AMMD made suggestions of how to integrate the Medical Centre with other health structures, the Ministry got bogged down in what is legally possible. The health system needs a modern orientation, and this relies on outpatient facilities, says Schmit.
“Not outpatient at the hospital, but outside the hostpital. This was even set out in the government programme. This offers better care, and maybe even cheaper care than in hospitals. But it requires a concept for integration.”
The AMMD has proposed a workable concept, Schmit argued, including how the same doctors might work within and outside health structures.
“If you want to place everything in hospitals, you are not on the same wavelength as what we are suggesting.”
It’s important to make the right decisions now, said Schmit. Limiting specialised medicine to hospitals is not sustainable long term - both in terms of giving patients access to care, and in staying abreast of medical progress.
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