Berlin: More Children, Less Early Detection

    

    

Doctors newspaper online, 05.09.2019

    

        
        
        

Thank you for your rating

        
    

    

     

    

• 

•         

• 

•         
          
      

    

Berlin

Staffing problems at the Public Health Service affect school examinations.

BERLIN. The number of screening examinations in kindergartens and day-care centers by the Public Health Service (ÖGD) of Berlin has hardly increased in the past ten years, despite the steady increase in population. The Senate attributes this to the personnel problems in the ÖGD

"In light of the difficult recruitment of children and adolescents, it is a good thing that the total number of examinations carried out annually in 2017, at 12,568, was more than 11,618 in 2008," said State Secretary for Health Martin Matz in response to a written request by CDU MP Tim-Christopher Zeelen.

However, Matz considers the large differences between districts to be "unsatisfactory". They would suggest a different emphasis of the respective health authorities, so Matz on. In comparison with other districts, the numbers of examinations in the large districts of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg and Neukölln seem to be consistently low.

In the similarly prolific Pankow, in 2017, in comparison to 2008, more than twice as many examinations took place. In Spandau and Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf in 2017 only a fraction of the investigations of the previous year were made. The Senate also attributes such fluctuations to the personnel situation.

Irrespective of this, the figures presented document the need for these investigations. Because of the 12,568 children who were examined in 2017, the doctors of the Berlin ÖGD 1829 recommended children to further examinations based on previously unknown findings. There has been a consistent increase in the number of dental examinations of kindergarten children, from 49,737 in the school year 2008/2009 to 77,636 in the school year 2016/2017. This increase is associated with a decrease in abnormalities. The proportion of children in need of treatment fell in almost all districts across Berlin, averaging 20.7 percent in 2008 to 16.8 percent. (ami)

• 

•     

• 

•     
      

        

More articles from this topic