The hospitals accuse Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) of failing to build up a national reserve of medical protective equipment. The delays "must be dealt with immediately," said the chairman of the board of the German Hospital Association, Gerald Gaß, the F.A.Z. The "Welt am Sonntag" had reported that the establishment of a "National Reserve for Health Protection" decided at the beginning of the corona pandemic was stalling because, according to the Ministry of Health, no budget funds had been allocated.

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The plan was to procure protective equipment and essential medical devices in sufficient numbers before "domestic production" was permanently strengthened. The equipment should be available for future pandemics, the failure of international supply chains and for a possible NATO alliance case. "Conditions like in the first months of the pandemic must not be repeated," said Gaß. Dependence on Chinese production must be reduced. "The fact that this still does not work after two years is dangerous and unacceptable." Pandemic protection should not be "based on the cash situation," said Gaß.

The intensive care physician Christian Karagiannidis, a member of Lauterbach's hospital commission, campaigned for forward-looking planning. It needs "contracts for the secure and fast ramp-up of production," Karagiannidis told the F.A.Z. The health policy spokesman of the FDP parliamentary group, Andrew Ullmann, however, sees the federal states in the obligation. A "conference of the responsible state ministries under the leadership of the federal government" is now necessary, said Ullmann.

According to Welt am Sonntag, the Federal Ministry of Health confirmed that 245 million masks have been stored so far. The Ministry had therefore registered for the years 2022 and 2023 each 250 million euros for the construction of the reserve, for the period from next year to each 50 million. The Finance Ministry, led by FDP leader Christian Lindner, rejected the release of the funds in October 2022.