"If those responsible do not do everything they can quickly to increase the number of GPs in the long term, the GP supply system in Lower Saxony and in Germany is in danger of collapsing in the next 5 to 10 years," the Lord Mayor worries.

This development was foreseeable for a long time and could have been prevented by increasing the number of study places in line with demand. This is causing frustration in Salzgitter and many other cities and municipalities.

"I am extremely annoyed that the federal government, the state, the Medical Association and the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians of Lower Saxony have been watching the number of GPs decline continuously and rapidly in recent years for over 20 years without the governments and medical interest groups taking any countermeasures. The demographic trend was foreseeable and has been known to those responsible for years," says the Lord Mayor, not making a murder pit out of his heart.

"It's like many other issues! Only when the need is so great that it resonates publicly will it be taken up in Hanover and Berlin," adds the Lord Mayor.

As Vice President of the Lower Saxony Association of Cities and Towns and member of the Presidium of the German Association of Cities and Towns and the German Association of Towns and Municipalities, he will take up this issue at state and national level.

Lord Mayor Klingebiel: "I demand the following immediate measures from the federal and state governments and the doctors' interest groups:

1) The number of study places for doctors must be drastically increased immediately. Incentives must be provided to encourage prospective medical students to choose general practice as their specialty. Dr. Carola Reimann's so-called rural doctor quota is a step in the right direction, but is still far from sufficient.

2) The restrictions on admissions, which date back to a time when we spoke of doctors' sponges, must be relaxed immediately. The very high numerus clausus is no longer in keeping with the times. The medical association's professional ethos is completely absurd in today's emergency situation.

If these measures are taken, it will still take at least 12 years before we have additional general practitioners available on the market. It is therefore essential to go beyond this.

3) re-admit the so-called general practitioner. Why should a medical graduate have to complete many years of specialist training as a general practitioner in order to be allowed to run a GP practice? Many graduates shy away from this path, as it involves a lot of effort but bears little financial fruit. In any case, other specialists earn considerably more than GPs.

4) Enable the possibility of lateral entry for certain professional groups such as medical assistants, nurses and care workers.

5) to grant practising specialists in general practice training authorizations more quickly and easily.

6) not to penalize practicing general practitioners financially if they accept patients from other GP practices that close due to age. If the GP exceeds a certain number of patients per month, he does not receive a supplement on his remuneration, but a discount. This is demotivating and simply crazy.

7) Provide further training for medical assistants and then allow them to perform simple medical tasks. North Rhine-Westphalia, for example, has already launched the EVA (Entlastende Versorgungsassistentin) training program.

In conclusion, Klingebiel's initiative makes it unmistakably clear: "We no longer have time to tinker with the symptoms, but must tackle the root of the problem in a sustainable way".