A German Healthcare Association Leader Calls for Free Access to Medications for Long-Covid Patients
The head of the German Association of General Practitioners, Markus Beier, is urging that long-Covid patients be granted free access to medications in the future. Currently, there is no approved medication for long Covid, but certain drugs, although formally approved for other illnesses, can still be effective for long-Covid patients under specific circumstances. However, patients typically have to bear the costs of these off-label uses, Beier told the Rheinische Post, stressing that this needs to change soon.
Beier’s comments come as the new Research Minister, Dorothee Bär, has recently announced plans to expand long-Covid research, in collaboration with the Health Minister, Nina Warken. Beier welcomed this development, stating that it is “good and right” to invest more in research to help long-Covid patients as much as possible and that this approach is undoubtedly the key to achieving this goal.