During the corona pandemic, the health authorities were chronically overloaded. In order to avoid this in future crises, the federal government promised to create 5,000 new jobs by the end of 2025 – this goal has now almost been achieved.
According to a media report, the goal of 5,000 new jobs at the health authorities set during the corona pandemic has almost been achieved. According to figures from the Federal Ministry of Health, the number of employees in the public health service nationwide has been increased by 4,833, reports the Editorial Network Germany (RND).
These include 875 doctors. Around 50 percent of the positions are in health protection and almost 30 percent in consulting. According to the ministry, 90 percent of the newly created positions are permanent.
Four billion for health services
The federal and state governments decided on a “Pact for the Public Health Service” in September 2020. The federal government had promised to support the public health service with four billion euros by 2026. This should create a total of up to 5,000 new jobs in the federal states and promote digitalization in the health authorities.
“It’s now paying off,” said Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach to the RND. “The federal states had allowed the public health service to be drained of personnel and had not modernized it.”
Technically not up to date
During the corona pandemic, the health authorities were entrusted with various tasks, such as tracking infection chains. However, it became obvious at that time that the offices did not have enough staff for such a case and were not technically up to date. Some people still used fax machines. In addition to expanding jobs, the current funding is intended to trigger a boost in digitalization.
