MHB: important partner for Brandenburg government

Neuruppin, 30 November 2023

The Brandenburg Medical School Theodor Fontane (MHB) can rely on its partnership with and support from the State of Brandenburg. The regional government further seeks to ensure cooperation between the MHB and the IUC, the new Cottbus innovation center of university medicine, so the message of Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke and Minister Manja Schüle (Science, Culture and Research) who visited Neuruppin this week.

Minister Schüle used the occasion of a cabinet meeting on the premises of the Ruppin-Brandenburg university hospital (ukrb) on Tuesday, 28 November, to talk to MHB students and learn more about their studies, individual development and commitment. Numerous work groups were presented, and medical student Götz Rövenstrunk reported progress in establishing a General Student Committee at the MHB. The constituent meeting of this first student body as a registered society at a non-state university nationwide is scheduled to take place in the current year.

Minister Schüle showed herself impressed by MHB students’ great conviction and commitment to their practice-oriented training on site: “The concept of regional attachment works. The university ensures healthcare provision in Brandenburg and will therefore be an important partner for our future medical school in the Lausitz region. I am confident that both universities with their respective profiles will be a perfect match and complement each other well. This is one of the reasons why we co-fund the MHB as the only non-state university with 6.6 million Euro per year. I will follow further developments at the MHB with great interest.” In this context she welcomed the addition of the new program of dental medicine and praised the excellent training of physicians at the MHB. She said the Brandenburg government is well advised to continue its support for the MHB while building up the IUC, where enrolment of the first 36 students is scheduled for 2026/2027.

Woidke: Both institutions urgently needed

Following the cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Woidke underlined that the IUC is intended to work not against but in conjunction with the MHB and that he wished for closest possible collaboration specifically in terms of university medicine and research. In view of the shortage of physicians, both institutions are urgently needed: “Quite a lot of MHB graduates have developed the hoped-for regional ties and have already started to practice medicine in Brandenburg. It was the right step to found the MHB. Today it is a well-established and important partner in our efforts to train and keep specialists in the region.”

Dr. Gunnar Pietzner, managing director of the ukbr (Universitätsklinikum Ruppin-Brandenburg), confirmed that funding for research, teaching and high-performance medicine contributes to excellent healthcare provision in the region and at the same time ensures the training of urgently required qualified medical professionals. Michael Ranft as State Secretary for Social and Health Affairs cited the association of university hospitals  (Universitätsklinikverbund UKV) as an example of successful and much-needed cooperation in the health sector.

Ralf Reinhart, district administrator for Ostprignitz-Ruppin, heads the MHB supervisory board. Pleased with the praise for the university, he would still like to see more support for the MHB as a key factor in solving problems of healthcare provision. After elections in September 2024, the next Brandenburg government will have to decide on annual funding from 2025 onwards as a basis for future developments at the MHB.

Appropriate funding remains necessary

MHB chancellor Dr. Gerrit Fleige on future funding from the Brandenburg government: “The MHB requires appropriate public funding in order to effectively fulfil its important role for the benefit of the regional population. Efforts to improve healthcare provision must not come at the expense of MHB students, who already assume a share of basic MHB funding with enormous personal commitment. It is important to avoid additional burdens for them and at the same time ensure further growth of the MHB.”

MHB president Prof. Hans-Uwe Simon was pleased to hear praise for the MHB from the Brandenburg cabinet: “The MHB was founded nine years ago to ensure and improve medical care in the State of Brandenburg, and since then has been educating physicians and psychotherapists who are now active all over the region, including areas that are much affected by overaging, shortage and exodus of specialists. With regard to the future, we welcome all ideas that may help to ensure successful and sustainable structures in Brandenburg’s health system. We believe that the objective requires larger, and not smaller, capital expenditure.”

Background: Founded in 2014, the Brandenburg Medical School Theodor Fontane (MHB) is a state-approved university, a non-profit institution under municipal sponsorship, supported by a state-recognized association of university hospitals. The university has locations in Bernau near Berlin (Barnim), Brandenburg/Havel, Neuruppin (Ostprignitz-Ruppin) and Rüdersdorf (Märkisch-Oderland) and collaborates with about hospitals and 200 teaching practices in the region. Over 820 students are currently enrolled. The first cohort of medical students graduated in 2021. The Brandenburg government provides funding of 5 million Euro per year for research, and in addition 1.6 million Euro for building a joint Faculty of Health Sciences together with the University of Potsdam and the Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg.