Plans for heart surgery in St. Gallen halted for the time being
Published: Tuesday, Apr 23rd 2024, 12:40
Retour au fil d'actualité
The two health insurer associations Curafutura and Santésuisse have lodged an appeal with the Federal Administrative Court against the introduction of cardiac surgery at St. Gallen Cantonal Hospital. It has suspensive effect. The possibility for such an appeal has only been available since 2024.
On March 21, members of the government of the cantons of St. Gallen and Appenzell presented the jointly compiled list of hospitals. It contained the performance mandate for the St. Gallen cantonal hospital to set up its own cardiac surgery unit in cooperation with Zurich University Hospital and Zurich's Triemli City Hospital.
At the time, the governments argued that there was a regional undersupply in Eastern Switzerland. Now these plans have been called into question. Curafutura and Santésuisse have lodged an appeal against this with the Federal Administrative Court "as a clear signal", according to the press release issued on Tuesday.
Suspensive effect
They want to achieve "that the service contracts are withdrawn from the cantonal hospital" or that the decision to reassess is rejected due to an "incomplete investigation of the facts".
The appeal has a suspensive effect, explained Curafutura spokeswoman Simone Hinnen at the request of the news agency Keystone- SDA. This means that the expansion of cardiac surgery cannot start until the issue has been clarified in court.
The associations argue that it is "incomprehensible" that the cantonal hospital is receiving a new service mandate, even though the density of cardiac centers in Switzerland is already almost twice as high as in neighboring countries. No further capacity is needed.
The three governments had given more weight to the interests of the hospital management than to the "concerns of the premium payers who have to pay for the expansion of services".
Care is guaranteed even without cardiac surgery in St. Gallen. The Heart-Neuro-Center Bodensee in Münsterlingen TG or the Hirslanden Clinic, the University Hospital or the Triemli City Hospital in Zurich could be reached in a maximum of one hour's drive.
©Keystone/SDA
French 
English 
German 
Spanish 
Arabic