German hospitals demand €15B to fortify crisis resilience by 2027

The German Hospital Federation (DKG) is demanding more funding to make hospitals crisis-proof. "Politicians should have given greater consideration to these resilience issues as part of the hospital reform," DKG Chairman Gerald Gaß told the Tagesspiegel. Now, he said, the entire healthcare system must be systematically and comprehensively prepared for crises. "And to do that, politicians will have no choice but to allocate the necessary funds."

Ahead of an expert commission on statutory health insurance presenting its report and reform proposals on Monday, Gaß called for crisis resilience and security to become fixed components of hospital planning—an issue currently under review in all 16 federal states. "Hospitals are an essential and existential part of our national critical infrastructure," he said. "We need reliability and, at long last, a society-wide, financially robust plan to strengthen hospital resilience."

The DKG estimates that an additional €2.7 billion will be needed to guard against cyberattacks and sabotage, with investment requirements rising to €4.9 billion in the event of an alliance defense scenario and €14–15 billion in a full-scale defense situation. "It's clear that these measures cannot be implemented overnight," Gaß acknowledged. "We need prioritization and a clear phased plan to achieve substantial progress by 2027."