In view of the sharp rise in corona numbers, the Charité warns of overloading the intensive care units. The number of patients has risen noticeably in the past few days, said Martin Kreis, the board member responsible for health care in Germany’s largest university clinic, the German Press Agency.
A significant increase in new infections can be expected, especially among those who have not been vaccinated. “Currently about 90 percent of Covid-19 patients in the Charité are not vaccinated,” said Kreis. If it is not possible to increase the vaccination rate significantly, this will lead to massive restrictions in the clinics as a result of the treatments in hospitals.
Internal emails from the Berlin University Clinic say that you have to be prepared for a “high load” for the winter. Well-known doctors expect that the Charité will postpone planned treatments like last winter, that the hospital board will restrict regular operations in order to be able to treat the expected new Covid-19 cases.
“If this development continues in line with the prognoses and no countermeasures are taken, there is a risk of a significant restriction in the care of non-Covid-19 patients in the next few weeks,” said Kreis. The situation is exacerbated by the fact that significantly fewer intensive care beds are available nationwide than a year ago. The background is a Germany-wide decline in nursing staff.
Charité boss: supply cannot be guaranteed without retention quotas
The existing intensive care beds are currently mainly occupied by people who are not sick with the corona virus. As a result, there are hardly any free beds available for Covid-19 care. The chief executive of the Charité, Heyo Kroemer, demanded: “We urgently need the introduction of vacancy rates for the intensive care beds again.”
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“Without the reintroduction of these quotas, it will not be possible to ensure the supply of Covid 19 sufferers in the coming weeks and months,” said Kroemer.
According to the Corona situation report by the Senate Health Administration, there are currently 120 Covid 19 patients with a severe course in intensive care in Berlin hospitals. That’s 27 more than a week ago – an increase of 29 percent in a short period of time.
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According to daily mirror information, booster vaccinations are advertised internally in the clinic. Renewing protection against the virus is necessary in view of numerous vaccination breakthroughs, Charité chief physicians write to the employees. The President of the German Red Cross (DRK) in Berlin, the CDU member of the Bundestag, Mario Czaja, also spoke out in favor of booster vaccinations on Sunday: Anyone who is at least twelve years old should seek an additional vaccination. They would be offered in practices, by mobile teams of the DRK and in the two centers. The corona vaccination center on the exhibition grounds opened in November, the one in the ex-Tegel airport until the end of January.
Berlin’s State Secretary for Health Martin Matz (SPD) pointed out via Twitter that everyone had a right to vaccination whose last vaccination was six months ago. Overall, the number of third-party vaccinations in Berlin is significantly higher than the national average.
