According to a media report, during the corona pandemic, the Federal Ministry of Health under then Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) paid 90 million euros for ventilators that were never delivered.
As the newspapers of the editorial network Germany (RND, Saturday editions) report, citing their research, the government ordered 10,000 ventilators from the Lübeck-based medical technology manufacturer Drägerwerk AG in the spring of 2020, but reduced the order volume just a few months later because the pandemic was milder feared went wrong.
Orders never made
At the time, the Ministry of Health emphasized that it had made “no financial or other commitments or contractual penalties” for the reduction. According to information from the RND newspapers, this is only half the truth: Accordingly, the government converted the order to Dräger into an option that gave it the right to purchase ventilators worth 200 million euros for a year. According to a media report, an unusually high option premium of 90 million euros was transferred, which would have been offset against possible orders.
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However, according to research by the RND newspapers, these orders were never placed; almost all of the 90 million euros were recorded as profit by the Lübeck family business. Neither Drägerwerk AG nor the Ministry of Health wanted to comment on the details of the deal to the newspapers and referred to confidentiality agreements.
Spahn: No information because there is no access to files
According to the report, CDU politician Spahn said upon request that the original order quantity had been reduced “by mutual agreement and with corresponding cost savings”. However, he could not provide any further details because he has not had access to files since taking office.
