Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach sometimes hardly had a chance to speak with “Anne Will”. Because an intensive care nurse vented his anger about the Corona policy and put him through the wringer. – By Charlotte Zinc
The fact that Karl Lauterbach is difficult to shake on the outside benefited him on Sunday evening with Anne Will in the studio. Because the moderator had hardly integrated intensive care nurse Ricardo Lange into the discussion round on the subject of corona measures when he vented his anger – and initially shot one in particular: the Minister of Health.
Lange wanted to know from Lauterbach what it means for him that the healthcare system is overburdened and explained: Is it overburdened when people die? When staff break down crying in the corridors? If emergency vehicles could no longer drive to certain hospitals?
Lauterbach hardly gets a word against Lange
“Of course it’s all overload,” Lauterbach replied calmly. However, he did not get any further, because Lange had not yet finished with his explanations. “And if you want to prevent that: what is the federal government doing?” he asked. However, there was no room for an answer again, because the intensive care nurse just gushed out in the face of the Minister of Health.
“Anne Will” discussed the Corona policy:
“They interfere with the fundamental rights of citizens and emphasize that everything happens for the benefit of the people, and then they don’t even have data at hand as to whether measures are effective,” Lange continued. “Now he should answer!” Will finally interjected.
Nursing Relief Act in preparation
“There were a lot of things now,” Lauterbach commented dryly and, when asked, initially went into care bottlenecks. “The situation you describe is well known to me,” said the Minister of Health. He has been working on countermeasures for years and, for example, successfully advocated the introduction of a law that prevents the dismissal of nursing staff.
In addition, the preparation of a care relief law, the key points of which should be presented before the summer break. Nurse That wasn’t enough for a long time. He angrily pointed out that there was a shortage of nurses and that clinics would literally “cheat” when stating the number of nurses in order to be better off. Lauterbach said: “That doesn’t get us any further, there’s really someone here who wants to help you.”
Aschenberg-Dugnus wants better working conditions
However, he was not the only one to feel long grudges on Sunday evening. FDP politician Christine Aschenberg-Dugnus also received a reprimand. “We want to improve working conditions,” she interjected in the discussion about the work of nurses. “What does that mean? Be specific!” demanded Lange.
Aschenberg-Dungus then explained that there should be more daycare places for the children of carers, for example. She also pointed out that rules could be changed to make work in the hospital easier, because “nurses can do more than they are allowed to do!”
“Nurses do a lot more than they are allowed to do”
What sounded good and reassuring, however, did not convince Lange. “That’s just nonsense!” he explained angrily. In the intensive care unit, nurses do a lot more than they are actually allowed to do. The lack of medical staff is to blame.
While Lauterbach did not deny grievances in the field of care, he clearly went on the offensive when it came to another point of criticism from the caregiver. He had also used his appearance at Will to denounce that there was too little focus on people who had suffered health damage as a result of the corona measures. For example, because diseases were recognized or treated too late.
Nurse criticizes corona measures
Against this background, the intensive care nurse criticized the introduction of corona measures whose effectiveness had not been proven by data.
“The insinuation they are making is problematic,” Lauterbach said. For a long time it sounded as if the federal government had taken measures that it should not have taken because the data was not sufficient. However, that was not the case. Lauterbach also added: “Nobody denies that there were victims and I’m sorry for every single one.”
With a view to the catalog of measures for the fall, he was still largely covered on Sunday evening, pointing out that he and Federal Justice Minister Marco Buschmann discussed them confidentially. After all, Lauterbach admitted: “A lockdown can be ruled out.” After all, he considered further school closures to be “very, very unlikely”.
