New German Health Minister named

Ulla Schmidt, parliamentary committee deputy chairman of the GermanSocial Democratic Party, the SPD, has become Health Minister in succession to Andrea Fischer, following her dramatic departure and that of Agriculture Minister Heinz Funke over the BSE crisis.

Ms Fischer blamed her departure on the loss of public confidence in effective consumer protection measures related to BSE. She had had a stormy period as Health Minister as she introduced new health service reforms that were attacked by the doctors' organizations and the parliamentary opposition (Marketletters passim). Her resignation statement noted that, in the past two years, she had seen how economic interests, often insufficiently restrained, tended to dominate the health agenda, to the detriment of the health service overall.

Ms Fischer also made clear that her departure was her own decision - she was not pushed. Her political stock has, in fact, now risen because she has accepted personal blame for her handling of the BSE crisis.