Corporate | 14 October 2004 18:57

RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG : Takeover of hospitals in Gifhorn and Wittingen

Corporate-news announcement sent by DGAP. The sender is solely responsible for the contents of this announcement. ——————————————————————————– RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG : Takeover of hospitals in Gifhorn and Wittingen – Gifhorn County Council and Wittingen City Council decide to sell their hospitals to RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG – Notarised offer to be accepted shortly – Construction of teleportal clinic planned for Wittingen location Bad Neustadt a.d. Saale, 14 October 2004 —– Last Friday, 8 October, both the county council of Gifhorn and the city council of Wittingen decided in favour of selling their hospitals to the publicly listed group RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG. In both cases the current owners – the county of Gifhorn and the city of Wittingen respectively – will retain a four per cent interest. With its 360 beds, Gifhorner Kreiskrankenhaus in 2003 treated nearly 15,000 patients in the specialised fields of internal medicine, surgery, gynaecology and obstetrics, paediatrics, and oto-rhino-laryngology (=affiliated practitioner department). The hospital employed a staff of 561 as at year-end 2003. The hospital’s services are rounded off by a school for nurses. The second hospital in the county of Gifhorn, Städtisches Krankenhaus Wittingen, has a total of 71 beds approved by the state hospital requirement plan. As a basic care facility, it treats patients in the areas of inner medicine, surgery, as well as gynaecology and obstetrics. In 2003 a total of 3,230 patients were treated. The hospital employed a staff of 77 as at year-end 2003. The takeover comes in response to the challenges brought by restructuring in the German healthcare system, including the introduction of DRGs (remuneration of hospital services on the basis of diagnosis-related case flat rates). In this environment a strong strategic partner was needed to ensure that Gifhorn county’s high-quality and affordable generalised healthcare delivery is maintained in future. The concepts presented by RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG were convincing. To meet the future healthcare needs in Gifhorn county, RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG additionally plans to establish outpatient, day-case and telemedical care structures at Kreiskrankenhaus Gifhorn as a major centre. For example, telemedical networking with the hospital in Wittingen is being planned, which will make it possible to perform joint online diagnosis in “real time”. This forms the basis of the “teleportal clinic” concept to be realised in the expansion of the hospital in Wittingen. end of message, (c)DGAP 14.10.2004 ——————————————————————————– WKN: 704233; ISIN: DE0007042335; Index: MDAX Listed: Amtlicher Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard) und München; Freiverkehr in Berlin-Bremen, Düsseldorf, Hamburg und Stuttgart 141857 Okt 04