“Fulfillment of the supply mandate is no longer guaranteed”

09.11.2021 17:37

With around 30,000 doctors in the background, the German anesthesiologists have made an urgent appeal to Federal Health Minister Spahn and his state colleagues to take more effective steps to contain the corona pandemic: It is no longer just about bottlenecks in the care of Covid-19 patients in the clinics.

The “Professional Association of German Anesthesiologists” (BDA) and the “Deutsche Society for Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine” (DGAI) in an open letter to the health ministers. In many cities and districts, the acute care of the population is now at risk and the fulfillment of the care mandate for non-Covid-19 patients is no longer guaranteed.

Because of their various tasks in the hospitals, the anesthesiologists have a precise overview of the situation. They not only carry out anesthesia, but also care for patients with serious illnesses, after accidents or major operations in the intensive care units. In addition, the majority of emergency doctors who travel in emergency ambulances or rescue helicopters are actually anesthesiologists.

Booster vaccinations for everyone and bringing registered nurses back to work

In their letter to Minister Spahn and his colleagues from the federal states, the anesthesiologists are calling, among other things, for a 2G regulation to be binding for all areas of public life, especially at major events. Contact restrictions should be strictly adhered to. The anesthetists also advocate booster vaccinations for everyone, as well as simpler vaccination rules.

In the letters, the anesthetists also repeat their call for more effective support for intensive care medicine, which is still overloaded in the corona pandemic: qualified nurses and carers must be brought back into the profession and training must be made more attractive for new applicants. Nurses and doctors who are still available in the intensive care units are clearly heading towards a massive overload situation, which will significantly worsen the problem of staff shortages, according to the anesthesia associations. They predict that emigration and sickness rates will continue to increase and the number of operable intensive care beds will continue to decrease.