Spahn wants preventive corona tests in nursing homes

Lisa Vogel studied departmental journalism with a focus on medicine and biosciences at Ansbach University and deepened her journalistic knowledge in the master's degree in multimedia information and communication. This was followed by a traineeship in the editorial team. Since September 2020 she has been writing as a freelance journalist for

More posts by Lisa Vogel All content is checked by medical journalists.

Germany is far from exhausting its test capacities for corona infections. The Minister of Health wants a test to become the norm, for example when entering a nursing home.

Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn wants to soon create the basis for more tests for the corona virus in hospitals and nursing homes. "My goal is to submit a regulation in May that enables preventive series tests in hospitals and nursing homes," said the CDU politician of the newspaper "Die Welt" on Friday. "When patients and residents are admitted or relocated, Sars-CoV-19 tests should be the rule."

Test residents and staff more often

According to the report, in the event of an infection in a facility, a test should also be carried out as a precautionary measure on all staff as well as on all residents and patients. Symptom-free contact persons from infected people should also be entitled to testing for the first time.

A good week ago, the Bundestag passed a law by which the Federal Ministry of Health can oblige statutory health insurers to pay for tests for the coronavirus in principle - even if someone has no symptoms, for example. Spahn now referred to unused test capacities: "Last week 425,000 tests were carried out across Germany. But the test capacity is more than twice as large."

Health insurance companies should pay for tests

The German Association of Cities accused health insurers and statutory health insurance physicians of partially slowing down the expansion of corona tests. "Occasional attempts are already being made to break effective cooperation with the health authorities for corona tests instead of further improving them," said chief executive Helmut Dedy to the newspapers of the Funke media group (Friday). "For example, in some cases the funding for tests in nursing homes, nursing staff or emergency services was terminated at short notice."

This is an obstacle on the way to extensive screenings, which are necessary for an exit strategy from corona restrictions, criticized Dedy. He therefore demanded that the necessary statutory ordinance "regulates crystal clear" that the statutory health insurance companies bear the costs for the tests.

Spahn: Protective equipment on reserve

Minister Spahn also announced the "establishment of a permanent national reserve of medical protective equipment". "This reserve ensures security for several months so that we don't end up in a situation like in February and March, when there weren't enough masks and gloves even for the medical staff." (lv / dpa)

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