Berlin’s governing body and city hospitals are preparing for a potential defense scenario, with a corresponding framework plan set to be released shortly, according to reports in the “Tagesspiegel”.
The plan focuses on bolstering the resilience of the healthcare system and ensuring readiness to respond to a range of potential crises. A key element involves training dedicated emergency management teams within each hospital, ensuring their immediate availability in the event of an incident. To facilitate coordination and adherence to directives from national and state authorities, a central crisis management team is also being established, incorporating multiple hospitals.
Regular training events are planned to heighten awareness and preparedness among hospital personnel. The experience gained from treating patients evacuated from Ukraine has provided local doctors and nurses with invaluable familiarity with injuries typically associated with conflict situations. Treatments for wounds caused by explosions, heavy artillery and bomb fragments have become increasingly common, particularly within institutions such as the Charité hospital, the trauma center and the Bundeswehr hospital.
Efforts are underway to identify healthcare professionals – including retired nurses, doctors and paramedics – currently working in other fields or in retirement. These individuals could be mobilized to support the healthcare system in an emergency. As part of the framework, hospitals are expected to maintain fuel reserves for their vehicles sufficient for 72 hours and to ensure robust backup power systems utilizing generators and emergency power supplies to operate in the event of network disruptions caused by an attack.
Berlin’s Health Senator, Ina Czyborra (SPD) and Marc Schreiner, Managing Director of the Berlin Hospital Association, are scheduled to formally present the framework plan this Thursday. The preparations stem from the work of a working group, “Civil Defense Hospitals” which has been meeting within the health administration since 2023. This group recently conducted a simulation exercise based on a potential NATO alliance defense scenario, a scenario considered plausible by both the Chancellery and the Bundeswehr.