The city council made this unmistakably clear at its July meeting. The surrounding communities in the catchment area of St. Elisabeth were equally clear.

The decision of the state's hospital planning committee on July 16 to recommend that the state government reject investment cost funding for the St. Elisabeth Clinic is still completely incomprehensible to him.

Klingebiel: "I am now going one step further and will prepare a petition for the city council for its meeting on Wednesday, November 26, and submit it for a decision, which will be sent to the President of the Lower Saxony State Parliament before the next meeting of the state's hospital planning committee on December 11."

"Both the current, positive development of the number of inhabitants in Salzgitter and the already foreseeable medical requirements of the demographic development show," says Klingebiel, "that two hospital locations are needed in Salzgitter in the long term. It is therefore essential to make a decision in favor of the St. Elisabeth Hospital to ensure its long-term existence. This serves both the well-being of the patients and the approximately 300 employees."

The city of Salzgitter will continue to need the St. Elisabeth Hospital to provide care for the citizens in the south of the city. The Ministry of Social Affairs is basing its plans on demographic assumptions that are clearly contradicted by current population trends in Salzgitter. This must be taken into account by the state in its decision.