National plan against fatalities
Lauterbach wants to prepare Germany for heat waves
6/25/2023 3:56 p.m
Climate change is causing Germany to experience longer periods of heat again and again. These are a heavy burden for several sections of the population, with thousands of deaths every year. Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach wants to counteract this. Billions could be needed.
The development of a national heat protection plan is picking up speed: Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach will meet on Monday with representatives from nursing, doctors, municipalities, federal states, social organizations and other experts for an initial discussion on measures to protect against heat waves, as the ministry announced. According to a spokesman, further meetings are planned.
“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,” Lauterbach told the “Bild am Sonntag” (BamS). Heat protection is “life protection”. It must stop “thousands of people dying of heat death every year – and that is not even registered”.
Around two weeks ago, Lauterbach announced a national heat protection plan based on the French model, which defines different degrees of severity of a heat wave and staggers the specific measures depending on the temperature. It should be worked on in a “concerted action” in the coming weeks on a heat protection plan, it said. According to “BamS”, the announced plan provides for the population to be warned more strongly about the dangers of increasing heat. Nursing homes, municipalities and hospitals are therefore provided with concrete concepts to react to heat waves.
Lauterbach wants to use the heat warning system of the German Weather Service (DWD). That “could be the basis for triggering cascades of intervention,” the newspaper quoted from a paper. According to the information, the establishment of a working group with several ministries, including the Ministry of the Environment, is also planned.
Patient Protection Foundation calls for billions in investments
The German Foundation for Patient Protection called for investments from the federal and state governments in the billions. Otherwise, “a national heat protection plan is not worth much,” said board member Eugen Brysch. The heat protection for the existing buildings of the 1,900 hospitals and 12,000 nursing homes must be in place in three years. Brysch also demanded that new buildings without a temperature limit of a maximum of 25 degrees in each resident’s room should no longer be put into operation. This must be anchored in a heat protection plan and underpinned by concrete financial commitments.
As a result of climate change, hot days with temperatures in excess of 30 degrees Celsius are increasing in Germany, and there are longer hot spells. This poses health risks, especially for the elderly, the sick and children. According to experts, Germany’s health system is not yet equipped for extreme heat waves. There were more than 4,500 heat-related deaths in the past year alone. According to the Robert Koch Institute, more than 19,000 people died in Germany in the three summers from 2018 to 2020 due to the heat.