(new: more details and background)
HAMBURG/BERLIN (dpa-AFX) – Overcrowded rooms, stays in emergency rooms for days, sick babies being transferred to distant hospitals: the acute wave of respiratory infections is causing children’s hospitals in Germany to experience sometimes dramatic bottlenecks. Doctors are sounding the alarm because practices and clinics for children are extremely overcrowded. The medical association Divi speaks of a “catastrophic situation” in children’s intensive care units. Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach relies on rapid relief measures. “The children now need our full attention,” said the SPD politician on Thursday in Berlin.
The news of overcrowded children’s practices and children’s wards are “very worrying,” said the minister. “We are confronted with a situation where there are fewer than 100 intensive care beds for children in Germany.” Numerous regular stations are already fully loaded. “Foreseeably, we are not yet at the end of this wave, which is essentially caused by the RS virus.” But the situation is “under control”.
