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RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG, Bad Neustadt/Saale:

Move indicated at the Companys press conference now to be realised

Bad Neustadt/Saale, 19 June 2002 ------ As already indicated at its recent
press
 conference (presentation of 2001 results), RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG has now
decided to
write off its South African subsidiary that was from the beginning judged
to be
a high though calculable risk, and to stop the outflow of further funds.

Group results for May 2002 are still 10 per cent (March results: 16 per
cent)
off the monthly results for the same period in the previous year; these
figures
show that the negative trend that characterised the first quarter of 2002
has
slowed down during the past eight weeks, however, they do not yet signal a
clear
 change in trend. Taking into account the one-time effect resulting from
the
write-off of the South African subsidiary in the amount of EUR 3.5 million,
Management has revised its published 2002 earnings forecast of EUR 70
million
and now expects 2002 consolidated earnings at the 2001 level of EUR 66
million.
Efforts to realise higher earnings, as had been planned, will continue as
will
the stringent measures initiated to this end, however, improvements on
2001 can
no longer be considered as being secured.

The hospital in Cape Town whose operating concept was focused on a
broad-based
supply of hospital services lacked the right positioning by its management
in
that countrys health care market. As a result, it had to compete for
private
patients with established private hospitals that already suffer from excess
capacity. Our goal to make this clinic a centre offering blanket-coverage
medical services at low flat rates has not been reached, as management
failed to
 enforce our strategy and the reforms agreed with the Cape authorities
provide
too little support for the necessary changes in the existing price system.
The
resulting, and discernible, die-hard financing is judged to be wasteful in
view
of the considerable operating risk and the Groups limited possibilities to
intervene. The Board of Management had made clear from the beginning that
it was
 prepared to take a limited economic risk only and has now taken the
necessary
steps against unacceptable risk: the venture has been taken off the balance
sheet in order to facilitate its transfer to an alternative use. No final
decision has yet been made on the future use of this investment that is
being
valued as extremely functional by both the Board of RHÖN-KLINIKUM AG and
local
South African professionals. It is intended to check and verify in how far
and
in which way this clinic could serve a broad-based supply of hospital
services
to the population.

To support the positive change in trend at Park-Krankenhaus Leipzig
Süd-Ost,
Herz- und Gefäß-Klinik in Bad Neustadt and at DKD - Deutsche Klinik für
Diagnostik in Wiesbaden, cost cutting and restructuring programmes have
been
initiated. This is anything else but easy in an environment overshadowed
by bad
news from all sectors, in which employees and even executives look at
slow-downs
 or stagnation of earnings growth as being normal and earnings growth
seems to
be a target out of this world. Our hospital in Attendorn has not yet been
able
to make up for the negative effects of the recent strike at that location
but is
 coming close to returning to the level of capacity utilisation before the
strike.

At its forthcoming Annual General Meeting on 17 July in Frankfurt/Main,
RHÖN-
KLINIKUM AG will present its 2002 half-year results along with further
details
of business developments within the Group. At this point, Management
expects its
 revised forecast to stabilise, while its positive long-term forecast
remains
unchanged.


end of message, (c)DGAP 19.06.2002