German Health Minister says health system must prepare for 'conflict'
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German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach says that the healthcare system must prepare for potential crises in the future, including a pandemic or military conflict related to Ukraine.
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German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, right, congratulates Health Minister Karl Lauterbach on his birthday during the cabinet meeting of the German government at the chancellery in Berlin, Wednesday, February 21, 2024. (AP)
German Health Minister and member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), Karl Lauterbach, emphasized, in an interview with the German newspaper Neue Osnabrucker Zeitung, on March 2, Germany's need to enhance its healthcare system so that it can effectively and promptly address emergency scenarios, including the emergence of a new pandemic or involvement in a military conflict.
Lauterbach announced that legislation for reforms that are set for this summer will be "a turning point for the healthcare system," adding that "In the event of a crisis, every doctor, every hospital, every health authority must know what to do. We need clear responsibilities – for example, for the distribution of a high number of injured people among the clinics in Germany."
The minister noted that despite the government's efforts to implement reforms in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, the ongoing war in Ukraine has underscored the increased significance of addressing challenges in the healthcare system.
The minister said that hospitals should engage in drills to simulate their disaster response, rejecting claims of scaremongering and asserting that "doing nothing is not an option."
"It would be silly to say we are not preparing for a military conflict and then it won’t come. According to this logic, there would be no need for a Bundeswehr," Lauterbach said.
Audio says German Army plotted attack on Crimea bridge, media confirms
The German Bundeswehr was planning to destroy the Crimean Bridge, the same one Ukraine admitted to bombing, with possible involvement from US and British troops - or so claims the editor-in-chief of Russia Today, Margarita Simonyan, citing a nearly 40-minute leaked audio in her possession.
Simonyan went on to submit official inquiries to German diplomatic figures, seeking clarification about the issue that would terribly impact Russian-German relations, as well as NATO's involvement in the Ukraine war.
The leak, which is 38 minutes long and dated February 19, reveals officers discussing the operational and targeting details of the homegrown Taurus long-range missiles, which Germany was mulling sending to Ukraine. Interestingly, the way it was being discussed insinuated that it had already been agreed upon.
The officers were also discussing means of maintaining plausible deniability so that Germany could tread as closely as possible to the "red line" of direct involvement without crossing it.
Although no official statement has come out from Berlin just yet, preliminary examinations of the audio recording by German media outlets suggest that it is genuine.
The German Welt newspaper said Friday evening that the audio, currently making its rounds throughout the Bundeswehr, was currently "classified as authentic" after it was closely examined.
Der Spiegel also came out as saying the recording was "classified as authentic" and that "according to an initial assessment, AI-supported counterfeiting is largely ruled out."
Read more: Following leaked Ukraine war audio scandal, Scholz vows probe
