After paediatricians specialising in neonatology, cardiologists are now at a risk of becoming a rarity at the Centre hospitalier du Nord (CHDN). The hospital in Ettelbruck had to before reopening on 1 June following an agreement drawn up in collaboration with the Centre Hospitalier de Luxembourg (CHL).

This time, “the CHDN has confirmed to RTL the resignation of six cardiologists for the new year”, announced DP deputies and in a parliamentary question to the ministers for health and social security, following an interview with the director.

“What is the impact of these resignations on the functioning of the cardiology department of the CHDN? Should patients expect waiting times or postponements or even cancellations of appointments?” they asked. “Did unpaid on-call time influence doctors’ decisions? Is there a risk that, apart from cardiology, other departments of the CHDN or even other hospitals will be confronted with the resignation of specialist doctors?” are other aspects they wanted information on.

Service maintained

If they are not replaced, the impact will not be negligible, since the CHDN website shows that there are a total of nine cardiologists. Two-thirds of the doctors would therefore leave the department.

But the director of the hospital, Paul Wirtgen, assured RTL that the cardiology service will be maintained at the hospital. He wishes to resume discussions with the six doctors concerned and regrets that no agreement has been reached on the payment of the doctors’ on-call duty at the hospital. He expects a decision on this subject in the autumn.

The hospital plan makes no provision for compensation for doctors who are on call, which makes it difficult to recruit these specialists. “This is why we need to find a global and national solution, we need a national agreement in particular in the maternity sector to structure the whole, to say who takes care of what”, .

This story was first published in French on . It has been translated and edited for Delano.