In the past few years, the number of heat patients has doubled in some cases, says the head of the German hospital company. The medical infrastructure is not designed for the now threatening heat wave. Investments are needed instead of fans.
In view of the upcoming heat wave, the German Hospital Society (DKG) warns of an increasing burden on hospitals and calls for an investment program to adapt the hospital buildings to the heat. “If the record values that meteorologists are currently predicting for the next week really occur, we will have to expect a high number of heat-related hospital cases,” said DKG CEO Gerald Gass to the newspapers of the editorial network Germany (RND).
In addition to dehydrated patients, Gass is also expecting people who suffer from cardiac arrhythmias, low blood pressure or sleep disorders. Gastrointestinal infections could also be aggravated by heat. "Especially in the cities, where there are hardly any alternatives to avoid the heat and where the heat can accumulate between the concrete buildings, the hospitals must be expected to be under extreme strain," said Gass. "And this in a situation in which the personnel situation is particularly tense due to quarantine and isolation caused by Corona."
Heat has become an increasing problem for hospitals in recent years, said Gass. "The number of patients who had to be hospitalized due to heat and sun has doubled in some cases over the past few years."
In addition, the patient rooms are usually not equipped with air conditioning. "In the short term we will have to work with fans, blackout curtains and cold packs for the patients," says the DKG boss. However, this is not a long-term solution.
"Hospitals have to adapt more to climate change," said Gass. "We need a large investment program that enables clinics to reduce their own emissions on the one hand, but also to adapt their construction to the hot temperatures more." The Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Ministry of Health would therefore have to launch a special "Green Hospital" program.
