The Southwest's healthcare industry is on the up again. But there are also concerns at the head of the state government. Does an appeal to the responsible EU ministers help?
Stuttgart (dpa/lsw) - In the second Corona year 2021, the healthcare industry in the southwest grew faster than the economy as a whole. The important industry in the southwest at least partially compensated for a dent in the first pandemic year 2020, as the State Statistical Office announced on Wednesday.
The latest development in the industry can also be interpreted as a kind of catch-up effect, the office said. The economic sector includes the healthcare industry and hospitals. Around every eighth worker was employed in this sector.
Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann is concerned about the healthcare industry and patient care, as the "Stuttgarter Zeitung" and the "Stuttgarter Nachrichten" reported in their Thursday editions. As a result of the corona pandemic, the European Union had to rely on production in Europe in the health sector, the Green politician told the newspapers. "This requires good framework conditions so that innovative health products and services are not developed and approved outside the EU in the future."
Kretschmann also said: "Baden-Württemberg is the number one state in medical technology." According to the newspapers, he appealed to the EU health ministers to improve the European Medical Devices Directive. Kretschmann's Minister of State Florian Stegmann also wrote to Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach (SPD).
