In the context of the violent incident in Aschaffenburg, German Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) has warned of a “safety risk”posed by mentally ill refugees and has also advocated for a regulation to provide more therapy places.
“Germany has a safety risk. Many people who come to us after war and flight experiences develop severe mental illnesses and are therefore often a danger to themselves and others”Lauterbach told the Funke-Mediengruppe (Saturday editions). “Without therapy, that can be denied by no one, they pose a threat.”
At the same time, the SPD politician emphasized that there is “almost no access to outpatient therapy places”for asylum seekers, the homeless, those with a criminal record, or drug addicts. Lauterbach added, “That’s why we are setting up special clinics for doctors and psychotherapists who treat exactly these patients and other particularly neglected patients.”
The health minister referred to a regulation that has been in preparation since last November and is expected to be adopted by the federal council in February. With the regulation, the ministry wants to create a new “authorization provision”for doctors and psychotherapists in the licensing ordinance. This would provide “targeted and low-threshold additional outpatient psychotherapeutic and psychiatric treatment capacities”according to the draft of the regulation.
According to the federal government, doctors and psychotherapists can in the future obtain a license if they only treat “these vulnerable patients”i.e., people with a flight history. The regulation also provides for a duty to cooperate with suitable institutions or services, such as addiction or crisis help.
On Wednesday, a 28-year-old Afghan asylum seeker allegedly stabbed a 3-year-old child of Moroccan descent and a 41-year-old man with a knife in Aschaffenburg. The Afghan had previously been involved in several violent incidents and had been briefly hospitalized in a psychiatric clinic on several occasions. The police are currently investigating the background of the perpetrator, who is currently being held in a forensic psychiatric hospital.