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Berlin (German news agency) – Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) wants to present a national heat plan on Monday to protect the elderly and sick from the increasingly extreme heat waves. “Thousands of people have to stop dying of heat death every year – and that’s not even registered,” Lauterbach told the “Bild am Sonntag”.
Specifically, Lauterbach wants a “national recommendation for heat protection plans in care facilities and care services,” says the paper about which the “Bild am Sonntag” reports. In addition, doctors should be persuaded to warn patients who are particularly susceptible to heat (children, pregnant women, the elderly, those with previous illnesses) during heat waves. “Heat protection is life protection. Elderly people, those in need of care, those with previous illnesses, but also children, pregnant women and people who spend a lot of time outdoors, professionally or privately, are at risk when heat waves roll over Germany,” said Lauterbach. According to the five-page plan, the population should be warned more about the dangers of increasing heat. Nursing homes, municipalities and hospitals are provided with concrete concepts to react to heat waves. Lauterbach wants to use the heat warning system of the German Weather Service (DWD). This “could be the basis for triggering cascades of intervention,” the paper says. The model for this is France, which staggers its measures in the heat depending on the outside temperature. There are also plans to set up an interministerial working group with the Ministry of the Environment and other departments (transport, construction, labor and social affairs, interior). Lauterbach will discuss the heat protection plan with experts and responsible department colleagues on Monday. Representatives from the medical profession, nursing, health insurance companies, municipalities and the DWD are expected in Berlin.
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