Hospital.Help

Berlin The CDU/CSU parliamentary group is calling on the federal government to develop a menopause strategy, to campaign for better obstetric care and to focus more on men’s health as a preventive measure. All three topics were decided today in individual motions at the parliamentary group meeting of the largest opposition party in the Bundestag.

According to the parliamentary group’s motion, the national menopause strategy should draw on international experience and best practice examples. This includes the educational and awareness-raising work of different target groups and actors on the topic.

Access to medical care must be easy and free or inexpensive for patients. The topic of menopause must also be addressed much more intensively in medical studies, not least in order to avoid incorrect diagnosis and the associated incorrect treatment, according to the group.

To this end, the teaching content in endocrinology is to be expanded, and the fees of practicing gynecologists are to be rewarded for comprehensive advice on menopausal symptoms and treatments. The group explains that gynecologists can bill 17.54 euros per quarter for the care.

Research on the topic should also be financially supported. The menopause phase should also be better anchored in company health management and appropriate working conditions should be adapted. The proposal was initiated by CSU member of the Bundestag Emmi Zeulner.

The parliamentary group wants to strengthen obstetric care in Germany, also on the initiative of CSU politician Zeulner, with another motion and refers to the current debate on hospital reform.

For example, the Hospital Care Improvement Act (KHVVG) is to be preceded by a so-called pre-law, with which inpatient maternity facilities and children’s clinics can be financially stabilized until the hospital reform takes effect. The remuneration system for the wards must also be adjusted and must be granted independently of performance in the planned reserve financing, according to the parliamentary group.

Likewise, the intersectoral cooperation between midwives and doctors should be promoted and a funding program for the development of midwife-led districts should be launched. In the current discussion, the special needs of the child and mother should also be taken into account in the context of the upcoming emergency reform of obstetric care,” the motion states.

In a further motion, the parliamentary group calls on the federal government to draw up a national strategy for men’s health with corresponding fields of action. A strategy for women’s health should also be developed, it is emphasized in the motion, which was prepared by the office of CSU MP Erich Irlstorfer.

Attention should be paid to the fact that men’s health needs, their health-promoting behaviours and the responses of health systems are influenced by norms and roles as well as the intersections with other factors of health, the list of demands states.

Prevention programs should be increasingly geared towards gender-specific health and this should also be reflected in research and research funding, it continues. In men’s health promotion, there should be cooperation with civil society actors in order to encourage the participation of men in such programs.

A special focus is being placed on early detection and preventive care services. The online portal for men’s health organized by the Federal Center for Health Education (BZgA) is also to be financially secured in the long term.

The proposal states that gender-related content should also be supplemented in the training of doctors and nurses and that specializations in men’s health/men’s doctors should be increasingly recognized. © bee/aerzteblatt.de