stereomatch | 14 points
German general practitioner Peter Schwoerer discusses why expensive drugs are getting faster track in Germany vs alternativeshttps://www.kontextwochenzeitung.de/debatte/518/politisches-kalkuel-oder-inkompetenz-7351.html Politisches Kalkül oder Inkompetenz?
Google Translate:
Political calculation or incompetence?
By guest author Peter Schwoerer
Date: 03/03/2021
Is science being manipulated for political or financial reasons? Our expert believes that the previous failures in dealing with the corona pandemic are fueling doubts about the suitability of German health politicians. What is needed is a master plan for dealing with pandemics.
Dealing with the drug ivermectin raises questions about the motivation and competence of leading health politicians in Germany. It is astonishing that there is no systematic review of the use of a globally widespread, inexpensive drug with few side effects, which is being discussed by science as a possibility of Covid 19 therapy. It is even more incomprehensible that drugs that are not approved in Europe, whose potential is classified by science as similar to that of ivermectin, are bought for millions of euros on behalf of Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) in incomprehensible actionism - without the question raised in the room to clarify the mutations of the coronavirus when using these drugs.
(link above: https://www.kontextwochenzeitung.de/politik/518/forschung-fehlanzeige-7352.html)
If meaningful research is not carried out on the one hand, but unexplored drugs are bought at a high price on the other, the question must be allowed: Is the funding of science manipulated for political or financial reasons? This is undoubtedly a grave charge, and in the present case the answer must - still - remain open. But that there are corresponding structures of influence and manipulation, that a "medical-political complex" regularly influences political decisions, the renowned "British Medical Journal" recently denounced. With a focus on Great Britain in the corona pandemic - but the basic problem can easily be transferred to other countries such as Germany.
The failures in research into drug-based Covid-19 therapies also shed light on other failures in the political handling of the corona crisis. After a year of chaotic political reactions to the pandemic, the politically responsible persons in the FRG must finally create the organizational and financial basis for a master plan for the current and future handling of pandemics: Political prevention, medical prevention, drug research, qualification of the health system and independent reporting must be included the courage to initiate unpopular measures.
In addition, the qualified digitization of the healthcare system will have a decisive influence on the success of the fight against the pandemic. This means that the degradation of the digitization of the health care system into a potential platform for the industry must be ended in favor of the development and implementation of patient-related electronic patient files; Resistance from service providers, such as dentists, should no longer be decisive.
These goals can only be achieved if, among other things:
(link above: http://www.bmj.com/content/371/bmj.m4425)
the question of the priority of services of general interest for the population over data protection is clarified, and
if (free and analogous to MdB Özdemir ) a qualified health economic education and employment will no longer be an obstacle to a career in health policy.
(link above: https://twitter.com/cem_oezdemir/status/1103321453137666049)
If the politicians of the Federal Republic of Germany fail to meet these goals, they not only threaten the health of the population, but also the democratic principles of the FRG.
Peter Schwoerer (born 1941) worked for 25 years as a general practitioner in Neustadt (Black Forest) and then in leading positions in the medical profession and the medical service of the statutory health insurances (MDK) Baden-Württemberg.