Corona: Lauterbach wants to improve care for those affected by Long Covid

According to Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD), care for those affected by Long Covid is increasingly improving. A comprehensive network of experts is currently being built, Lauterbach said after a round table Long Covid with representatives from science and healthcare. This is a turning point.

Around half a million people in Germany are chronically and permanently ill with Long Covid. “We also have to assume that there will be more,” said Lauterbach. With each wave of infections, new ones could emerge, including omicron virus variants. But there is still no cure for many forms of Long Covid. “The problem of Long Covid is unsolved,” said Lauterbach. However, there were calls for research funding worth millions. And the use of soothing medications outside of approval should be easier in the future.

Long Covid refers to sometimes severe symptoms such as exhaustion or shortness of breath that persist or occur again after an acute phase of the illness of four weeks. Post Covid describes the clinical picture more than twelve weeks after infections.

More education and care options

The head of the immunodeficiency clinic at the Berlin Charité, Carmen Scheibebogen, said that diagnoses and care are a big challenge. Some of those affected by Long Covid do not go to doctors, doctors do not feel responsible, and therapies are often unknown. There are “inadequate care structures” and no curative treatment. According to the doctor, what is necessary is, among other things, broad information about the disease and better training for doctors.

A guideline from the Federal Joint Committee of doctors, health insurance companies and clinics is intended to ensure care. Among other things, it provides for a single contact person, as committee member Karin Maag said. As a rule, this is the family doctor’s practice, which is then supposed to coordinate a treatment plan with further specialist treatments.

According to the experts, better support for children with Long Covid is also crucial. Scheibenbogen said that there were also many other respiratory infections this winter – long-lasting symptoms could also develop afterwards.

Challenges for the labor market

Lauterbach also sees Long Covid as a problem for the labor market if those affected are permanently absent. These often include younger women. “We have to assume that a wave of dementia patients is coming our way,” said the SPD politician.

The minister pointed out several funding programs totaling around 150 million for healthcare research in the coming years. This puts Germany in a leading position in Europe.