Germany: Children’s clinics on the verge of collapse as the government acquires nuclear bombers
Germany is currently experiencing a wave of deaths from COVID-19 and other severe respiratory illnesses, bringing the country’s children’s hospitals to the brink of collapse. Just before Christmas, the German parliament decided that taxpayers’ money was better spent on purchasing nuclear bombers. The decision sheds light on the criminal policies of the ruling class.
According to a survey by the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive and Emergency Medicine (DIVI), one in two hospitals in Germany has already had to turn away children for pediatric intensive care. In normal children’s wards, 43 of the 110 pediatric clinics did not have a single bed available and ventilators are also in short supply. In addition, children’s clinics are plagued by devastating staff shortages, meaning nearly 40 percent of pediatric intensive care beds cannot be operated. DW quotes a senior pediatric intensive care consultant in Hannover as saying: “Children are dying because we can no longer care for them.”
The war conditions in German children’s hospitals are the result of the government’s policy of waging war against Russia in the Ukraine and its conduct of class warfare against its own people at home to finance bloodshed.
Each of the 35 stealth bombers, explicitly intended to deliver US nuclear weapons already stockpiled in Germany, could finance the complete rebuilding of a state-of-the-art children’s clinic. Instead, the ruling coalition of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), the Greens and the neoliberal Free Democratic Party (FDP), with the consent of all the opposition parties sitting in the Bundestag, has decided to cut the health budget by €40,000. million compared to last year, despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Parliament also agreed to buy an additional 118,000 Heckler & Koch assault rifles.
The renowned Robert Koch Institute reports on its online resource “GrippeWeb” that the number of respiratory infections in Germany is already well above the seasonal level and threatens to rise further. The proportion of people with an acute respiratory illness (ARI) currently exceeds 11 percent, with a “clear upward trend.” This means that approximately one in nine people in Germany currently suffers from a respiratory infection. In 2021, the proportion of people with ARIs was just under 4 percent. The increase is the result of the lifting of the slightest protection measures against COVID-19.
The RKI assesses the situation as follows: “The current very high value even exceeds the maximum values reached in previous large waves of flu.” The main causes of respiratory infections are influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), which mainly affects infants and young children.
DIVI President Christian Karagiannidis is also very concerned about the current situation, stating: “I have never experienced anything like this before.” The chronic shortage of nurses is currently exacerbated by the high level of sick leave among healthcare workers.
Gerald Gaß, director of the board of directors of the German Hospital Association, commented on the absences: “We now have around 9 to 10 percent absenteeism among the staff.” That’s 30 to 40 percent more than normal for this time of year. The precarious situation of staff means that beds in clinics cannot be used or even entire wards have to be closed.
The Charité Clinic in Berlin, for example, has been operating in emergency mode in the run-up to the Christmas holidays. All scheduled operations have been postponed. Children’s clinics are severely affected by staff shortages, where employees are already working on the edge. Children sometimes have to spend the night in hospital corridors with their parents forced to wait for hours, or parents have to spend hours looking for another children’s hospital with a free intensive care bed.
This situation causes despair not only in children, but also, and especially, in their parents. Staff at Charité’s Virchow Clinic told WSWS reporters that the children’s clinic was packed to capacity. They are angry and desperate about the situation.
“The cases of threats or the actual exercise of psychological and physical violence against health personnel are increasing,” said Gerda Hasselfeldt, president of the German Red Cross.
Heinz Hilgers, president of the Child Protection League, concluded that “it was an indictment against the current official policy that there are not even enough fever-reducing drugs and agents for children.”
There is currently a significant supply shortage of certain children’s medicines, such as fever-reducing medicines and suppositories, along with a shortage of adult anticancer medicines and antibiotics. This is due to the high number of respiratory infections in children.
In addition, drugmakers are withdrawing from the production of less profitable drugs, as is currently the case with 1A Pharma, a subsidiary of the Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis, which had a 30 percent market share in drugs to reduce the fever. In 2021, in the midst of the pandemic, Novartis posted a profit of US$24 billion globally.
“The current bottlenecks are the result of years of pressure on prices and manufacturing costs of generics,” complained the Pro Generika manufacturers’ association. Consequently, more and more generic drug manufacturers are withdrawing from the production of key drugs.
In response, German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) announced before Christmas a bill to “overcome supply bottlenecks”. According to the minister, an erroneous pricing policy was responsible for the supply bottlenecks. “The price has played the only role, the availability of drugs has played too little role. We want to undo that,” Lauterbach said. In other words, the profits of pharmaceutical companies will prevail and the prices of medicines will continue to rise, although this will mean an even greater burden for the health system.
For many years, Germany’s main political parties have been cutting the healthcare system to a minimum to maximize profits. Currently, the federal budget for health is being cut from €64.3 billion to €24.5 billion. Military spending, on the other hand, will increase from just under 50 billion euros to 58.6 billion euros. In addition, the government announced at the beginning of the Ukrainian war that it intended to invest an additional 100 billion euros in the Bundeswehr.
The WSWS spoke to the workers in front of the Charité. One worker said: “I find this intolerable. This is where the money should go. Everything is shutting down here, and it is the army that is being financed to finance the war. I agree with you.”
Sabine opposed the purchase of nuclear bombers: “The government finds the money for that, but they don’t have the money for the children. There is money available for so many things. … I’m lucky, my children are still healthy. But now the teachers are sick! Everyone wins in a war, except the smallest, the smallest have to pay more. I was a patient in the nephrology department. I noticed that the children’s wards were full, and that’s not just the situation in Berlin, it’s like that everywhere.”
Many others also declared that it was “unbelievable” that money was “wasted” on nuclear bombers. Instead, one could “hire a lot more people” with that money. In Germany, there is a huge need for nursing staff. According to conservative estimates, the country lacks a total of 200,000 nurses.
“It’s terrible,” said a nurse in the children’s ward. “In general, I am against weapons and weapons supplies. The money should be invested in the health system. So many people have to be sent home right now, including teachers and ambulance crews.”
“As trainees, we try to help where we can,” said Rani, who works in an interdisciplinary pediatric ward. “Health insurance companies say they made losses in the pandemic, but I don’t believe it. So many old people have died.”
Natasha from pediatric surgery added: “There are no beds left. There are hardly any nursing services left because the shortage of personnel is very serious and the nurses themselves are getting sicker.” Instead of 100 billion euros for the army and billions more for imperialist wars, this money should go to health and education.