Berlin: (hib/PK) The Health Committee held a technical discussion about strengthening the health system in the event of war. This was specifically about the Bundeswehr medical service. Various experts from the Bundeswehr, disaster research and hospital medicine commented on this on Wednesday.
General Staff Surgeon Norbert Weller highlighted the challenges of patient care in the event of war, which cannot be compared with civilian care for patients. In the event of war, several hundred injuries must be expected per day. In the European health systems, however, little importance has been attached to the requirements for a possible defense event.
Intensive care physician Christian Karagiannidis from the University of Witten/Herdecke said the strict separation between the civilian and military medical sectors was a disadvantage. The two sectors would have to be brought closer together. Just as the Bundeswehr supported the Public Health Service (ÖGD) during the corona pandemic, civil hospitals must support the Bundeswehr, regardless of the crisis. This urgently requires legal regulation and central coordination.
Martin Voss from the Disaster Research Center (KFS) Berlin explained the extent of a conceivable crisis and mentioned cyber attacks, sabotage, the interruption of the flow of goods, attacks on critical infrastructure and the influence of social sentiment through misinformation. In this way, the performance of the healthcare system could be significantly restricted even before an aggressor can be identified. Voss warned that attacks on the health system could break the population’s will to persevere. What is necessary, among other things, is for the population to be empowered to protect themselves and to help others.
Ute Rippel-Lau from the Organization of Doctors for the Prevention of Nuclear War – Doctors in Social Responsibility (IPPNW) warned of the dramatic consequences of the use of weapons of mass destruction. The real turning point that still challenges medical practice today was August 6, 1945, with the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. In the planned health security law, there should be regular emergency exercises. However, it remains a fatal illusion that the catastrophic consequences of the use of nuclear weapons can be managed in this way.