Agency Report –
Berlin’s city authorities, the German Armed Forces and twelve hospitals in the city have been making detailed preparations for grim scenarios, including military clashes breaking out in the German capital.
Berlin’s hospitals have now been presented with a plan – the result of two years’ work – to respond to this and other civil defence scenarios.
The complete plan remains under wraps for security reasons. However, the Berlin Senate presented the important issues at stake, in a press conference on Thursday.
These include maintaining the services and supply chains needed for hospital to remain operational, the emergency allocation of patients and ensuring sufficient backup power, medical supplies and medicines.
The plan has been drawn up against the backdrop of Russia’s war on Ukraine and NATO fears of a further advance towards western Europe.
When Russia annexed the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea in 2014, the German government decided to reorganize the country’s civil defence, which had been neglected since reunification in 1990.
Berlin Health Senator Ina Czyborra explained that “due to the changed threat assessment, it has become necessary to expand civil defence beyond what was required in recent years.”
The worst-case scenarios include an increased number of patients combined with infrastructure and resource failures, a military conflict in Berlin and the complete evacuation of the capital.
Marc Schreiner, managing director of the Berlin Hospital Association, said regular emergency drills kept hospitals well prepared to respond to acute dangerous situations. The new plan showed that there was still a lot to be done, however.
Certain potential crisis situations, such as military conflicts or hybrid threats, required further preparations, he noted.
“We must make our health infrastructure more crisis-proof,” Schreiner said.
