Friday December 24th 2021
Medical officers complain of staff shortages
Many offices give up contact tracing
The high number of people infected with corona brings many health authorities to their limit. According to chief medical officer Teichert, a comprehensive search for contact persons “hardly ever takes place”. Some federal states have already given up the fight completely, said the doctor.
A large part of the health authorities in Germany has discontinued contact tracking and quarantine addressing people infected with corona. “At the moment there is almost no nationwide follow-up any more,” said the federal chairman of the doctors of the public health service, Ute Teichert, the newspapers of the editorial network Germany (RND). “Several countries have even completely suspended the search for contact persons, for example Baden-Württemberg, Berlin and Hamburg.”
It is assumed there that people would inform themselves what to do in the event of a positive test result or risk contact. “The question is whether everyone is doing that,” said Teichert. “Because of the many people who tested positive and the increase in incidences, the focus is now on recording and reporting the numerous corona cases first.”
The situation is very tense because the health authorities have been working over the limit for a long time. One consequence is the worsening shortage of personnel: “Since the beginning of the pandemic, I have not only observed fluctuation, but also an escape of staff from the health authorities,” said Teichert.
In addition to the workload, this is also due to the comparatively poor pay, according to Teichert, with a view to the payment of doctors in hospitals. “There is a significant pay gap that makes working in the health department unattractive.” She therefore called for the health authorities to be provided with more well-paid specialist staff on a permanent basis.
The shortage of staff could also be made worse by the pandemic itself. “With the Omikron variant, we are approaching a situation in Germany in which the health authorities can no longer compensate sick staff at some point,” Teichert told the RND. Good emergency plans are important. “But if, for example, 30 percent of the workforce falls ill, it can hardly be compensated for by emergency plans.”