In view of the emergency in pediatric medicine due to a wave of respiratory infections, the professional association of paediatricians warns of serious risks. “It is actually the case that the health of children and young people and also their lives are at risk at the moment,” said association spokesman Jakob Maske on Deutschlandfunk on Monday. In order to contain infections, health politicians called for people to wear masks if necessary out of solidarity. The federal and state health ministers wanted to advise on the further course of corona requirements such as the obligation to wear masks on buses and trains and the obligation to isolate infected people.
The FDP health expert Andrew Ullmann told the “Welt” (Monday) about the wave of infections in children: “We can do what we practiced well during the pandemic: avoid infections and break chains of infection.” No state regulations are required for this. “Wear a mask, wash your hands, stay at home if you have an infection.” In order to relieve paediatricians, one should also dispense with unnecessary requirements such as “health certificates” for children, which many day-care centers demand. SPD parliamentary group leader Dagmar Schmidt told the newspaper that basic hygiene measures also protect here. “Everyone should now show solidarity, especially with the children.”
Huge wave of infections
Many children’s practices and children’s wards are currently extremely overcrowded. Experts are reporting an enormous wave of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infections, which can be dangerous for babies. Association spokesman Maske said that the fundamental crisis of the system had been concealed by Corona. But that’s over now. “We now have a completely normal increase in infectious diseases, as we see it every winter – and the systems are collapsing.” For example, seriously ill children would have to be moved hundreds of kilometers from Berlin because there were no beds.
Maske sharply criticized the health policy of the past few years, including under Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD). The system has been “driven against the wall” for years. Extra large savings were made for paediatricians. Many beds have been reduced because child and adolescent medicine is not worthwhile.
Lauterbach has already announced rapid relief measures. Nursing staff are to be transferred from adult wards to children’s wards. The health insurance companies should not check staffing requirements for the time being and suspend sanctions. He also appealed to parents and paediatricians not to postpone preventive check-ups that are not directly necessary. According to Maske, moving staff to children’s wards does not help “at all”. An adult carer cannot care for a premature baby weighing 600 grams.
20 years too little done
Lauterbach wrote on Twitter on Monday: “The pediatricians are just as concerned as I am.” He agrees that too little has been done for them in 20 years. “But we’ve been working for months to relieve the children’s hospitals.” It should apply from January 1, 2023. The Bundestag passed the first package of laws on hospitals on Friday. For children’s hospitals, there should therefore be an additional 300 million euros in 2023 and 2024. Lauterbach wants to present further reform proposals this Tuesday in order to relieve hospitals from financial pressure overall.
Green leader Ricarda Lang said that the traffic light coalition had already taken immediate measures to help the clinics, for example with the high energy costs. At the same time, she emphasized: “It’s not enough to stick on a patch again and again.” A real reform of the structures is now necessary. This includes the fact that the actual need for beds and staff plays the essential role in financing the clinics, not the question of what promises the greatest possible profit.
In the debate about further necessary corona protection regulations, Baden-Württemberg’s Health Minister Manne Lucha spoke out in favor of maintaining the mask requirement in local public transport for the time being. “We want to continue this mask requirement,” said the Green politician on SWR. There had recently been no uniform line among the transport ministers of the federal states. For long-distance trains, the mask requirement is stipulated by law nationwide until April 7, 2023.
There is a patchwork quilt when dealing with corona infected people. Five of the 16 states – Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, Schleswig-Holstein, Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate – have now lifted the recommended isolation requirement of at least five days.
