German doctors vow to escalate nationwide strike

BERLIN, May 19 (Reuters) Thousands of independent German family doctors joined colleagues from state hospitals clinics in a nationwide walk-out today, escalating what is already the biggest strike the German healthcare sector has ever seen.

Some 10,000 family doctors and general practitioners around Germany kept their practices closed today in solidarity with their state counterparts and to protest what they claim is excessive government regulation of the sector.

They are threatening more strike action to add to the disruption caused by a week-long walkout over pay by some 13,000 university clinic and state psychiatric hospital doctors.

''We will have to consider exactly what we can do and what we have to do and one possibility would be for a closure of practices over a longer period of time,'' Maximilian Zollner, the chairman of the NAV-Virchow-Bund association, told reporters.

Patients visiting family doctors in Cologne today faced locked doors at those practices on strike and heaving waiting rooms at those which remained open. Clinics are only guaranteeing emergency operations and all non-essential surgery has been postponed.

Josef Tenner, a 67-year old pensioner in Cologne, said his prostate operation was cancelled four weeks ago and he learned today that his heart was too weak to undergo surgery.

''Four weeks ago it would probably still have worked,'' Tenner said as he pushed his walking frame through a hospital.

The practice-based doctors, who are resisting efforts by the government to control how much they charge, expect just under half their ranks -- or around 50,000 doctors -- to join the strikes nationwide.

Action should last a week and affect entire regions, Zollner added, in order to bring the impact home to patients.

Others suggested that doctors take action during the soccer World Cup, which Germany will host from June 9 until July 9.

University clinic and state hospital doctors staged day-long strikes over pay levels for the last 9 weeks before switching to a week-long walk-out and crippling the healthcare services at about 40 facilities across the country.

The Marburger Bund, which represents the clinic doctors, says German healthcare professionals are being driven abroad by low wage levels, which start at 3,500 euros a month before tax for new recruits.

REUTERS DKS KN2300