Intensive care physician Christian Karagiannidis has warned of restrictions on regular hospital care in view of the numerous staff shortages in the clinics.

"Our main problem in the healthcare system is currently the wide range of staff shortages and the associated bed closures," said Karagiannidis, who is a member of the federal government's Corona Expert Council, of the "Rheinische Post". This applies to a chronically ill system that no longer has any possibility of compensation.

"Before Corona, many employees lay in bed once a year after carnival with a virus, the flu. Currently, several severe waves of infection are running through the staff at short intervals, and we fear that Corona will also be joined by the flu," said Karagiannidis. This leads to considerable restrictions and, among other things, to the fact that the number of intensive care beds that can be operated with staff is currently the lowest because the failures can no longer be compensated for.

"If the number of patients increases significantly in winter, the system will come under an extremely heavy load. I cannot imagine that this will happen without restricting regular care," said Karagiannidis.