An inspection of healthcare facilities was initiated in Germany to determine whether they could withstand the strain in the event of an armed conflict amid threats from russia, UNN reports, citing Bloomberg.
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In Germany, government authorities are inspecting the healthcare system and infrastructure to determine whether they could withstand the strain in the event of an armed conflict.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, hybrid attacks have become more frequent in Germany: in particular, an attempted drone strike involving explosives was recorded at Leipzig Airport last month, and a series of cyberattacks on hospitals also took place. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius warned that by 2029, Russia could be capable of attacking NATO territory. In that case, Germany would be obliged to come to the Alliance’s defense, and given its location in the center of Europe, the country would likely become a key transit hub for military personnel and a place where they could receive medical care.
In a report modeling potential scenarios for a Russian invasion of NATO territory, the Bundeswehr estimated that up to 1,000 wounded soldiers could arrive in Germany each day. Since the country’s five existing military hospitals would quickly reach their limits — and the law obliges civilian hospitals to provide assistance during wartime — the system would likely face unprecedented strain, and medical personnel might have to prioritize care between military and civilian patients.
The publication notes that ensuring a sufficient number of hospital beds is only part of the challenge. Germany’s leadership also needs to strengthen medical-supply chains and establish better coordination between the military and civilian healthcare systems. Another problem is personnel training: estimates suggest that only a few hundred doctors in Germany have experience treating combat injuries. To improve the situation, the Bundeswehr and the German Trauma Society (DGU) are offering civilian surgeons courses on providing care during mass-casualty emergencies and treating war injuries.
When this cooperation was formally established in 2017, the world was a very different place, recalls Sasha Floge, secretary-general of the DGU. "At that time, we still believed that we lived in a safe world — if one disregarded Islamist terrorism," he said. — "No one believed that the security situation would change fundamentally or that we would be discussing collective-defense scenarios." Today, demand is high: the governments of some federal states reserve entire weeks of training, and getting into the courses is not easy. The most intensive programs, which use the bodies of deceased people and anesthetized pigs, can train only 50 to 100 surgeons per year.
If war broke out, the Bundeswehr’s medical services would provide care to wounded soldiers at the front and then transport them to Germany, where the authorities of the federal states would direct them to civilian hospitals. This strategy was tested in March, when the military held its largest medical exercise in decades, simulating an attack on Lithuania and the transportation of soldiers to hospitals in Berlin and parts of Brandenburg. According to Floge, the exercise was successful, but additional practice is needed to ensure effective cooperation between the two systems in an emergency.