Wellness - "Persistently Pushing the Boundaries" - Pediatricians Issue a Warning
Prominent child health professionals are ringing alarm bells about the state of Germany's children's hospitals. "The system is currently maxed out the whole year, not just during infectious disease outbreaks in winter," said Florian Hoffmann, the newly-elected head of the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive and Emergency Medicine (DIVI), nicknamed "The Star". "The wards are usually packed." Overload can be found in every children's hospital, explained Hoffmann, who is also a pediatric intensive care physician at LMU Munich.
Hoffmann also took aim at the federal government. "The kids are getting the short end of the stick," he said about the recently-approved draft of the hospital reform. "I had hoped that protecting children would be a top concern in this new reform."
Jörg Dötsch, the vice president of the German Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine (DGKJ), advocated for financial incentives to entice caregivers to "come back from retirement or part-time work to their profession and increase their work hours."
