APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200110024-7
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FIGURE 20. East Germany maintains a level of medical and hospital care comparable tot act of the West. (Above) Interior of operating theater in hospital in Rostock. (Right) Laboratory of Berlin Center for Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases.
1946-61 average ratio of 1 per 1,280 and slightly less than the 1970 West German ratio of 1 physician per 580 population.
To deal with the critical shortages of the 1950's and early 1960's, the East German regime imported physicians from several Eastern European countries, notably Bulgaria, on 2- and 3-year contracts. At the same time, they increased the enrollment of medical students and reorganized the medical curriculum more along the lines of U.S. medical schools, eliminating the classical courses traditionally required in German education. The authorities also required medical students to help out in the various medical institutions during off hours and vacations, which probably contributed to reports during that period of a decline in the quality of medical care.
There has been a gradual consolidation of hospital facilities, the total number of hospitals having declined steadily from 1,063 in 1950 to 626 in 1970. The majority (523) are state or commercial institutions, while 82 are church-affiliated and 21 are private. The number of beds available in all hospitals increased from 187,200 in 1950 to a high of 207,100 in 1972. In 1970 there were 190,000 beds, or a ratio of 1 bed per 90 persons. Thus, hospital facilities (Figure 20) appear to be more adequate than those available in most West European countries, and in the number of physicians. East Germany compares reasonably well with other European countries (Figure 21).
2. Incidence of disease
The continued rise in the total number of consultations conducted by physicians probably reflects the aging of the population and a growing incidence of chronic disorders, and possibly some malingering and hypochondriac. East Germany's medical personnel reported 106.6 million consultations in 1969 compared with 67.1 million in 1961, a
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APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200110024-7
