German Health Min pressed for reform

Germany's Health Minister, Ulla Schmidt, is coming under increasingpressure over the government's health service reforms, as the controversy surrounding the direction this should take intensifies.

The Social Democratic Party has called for a major reform blueprint and media reports have suggested that Ms Schmidt's advisers are pushing her in that direction. However, the Minister has said merely that the structure of the service needs to be changed.

Freidrich Schwartz, chairman of a technical advisory group within the Ministry, has said in a newspaper article that, despite numerous legal and regulatory interventions, the health service urgently needs reform. He pointed out that the state had to intervene more forcefully to determine, for example, the number and qualifications of medical general practitioners. Mr Schwartz warned over the danger of too much competition and said that successful European neighbors all demonstrated stronger control of health care.