FDP and Left call for research on Long Covid to be expanded

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After a Covid-19 illness, a patient's lung function is measured

Photo: Uwe Anspach / dpa

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that every tenth patient suffers from long-term and long-term effects of Covid 19 disease - but the federal government still has little overview of how many people in Germany are affected by it.

That emerged only recently from the answer to a small question from the Green parliamentary group in the Bundestag.

The federal government is apparently not yet prepared for the long-term consequences of the disease - it is currently still fully involved in fighting the pandemic.

However, experts such as SPD health politician Karl Lauterbach are already warning that patients with long-term complaints will be a problem that could keep society busy for a long time.

The currently increasing number of cases could also lead to an increase in the number of people affected by long covid.

Left demands recognition of Long-Covid as an occupational disease

The opposition in the Bundestag now also wants to improve research on the disease. The left and the FDP have submitted motions to be discussed in the Bundestag on Thursday. With its application "Long Covid - expand research and improve care offers", which is available to SPIEGEL, the Left demands, above all, to recognize Long Covid as an occupational disease of certain employees and to ensure care for those affected. This means, for example, bus drivers and cashiers. The concerns of those affected should be coordinated centrally at the federal level and research funding should be increased.

In its application, which SPIEGEL has received, the FDP appeals to the Bundestag to set up special treatment centers for the symptoms. The parliamentary group also insists on "developing a long-covid register together with the federal states that systematically records and analyzes the long-covid cases." The health consequences have not yet been comprehensively described. This is due "on the one hand to the novelty of the clinical picture and on the other hand to the lack of diagnostic and therapeutic options."

»The long-term effects of corona disease are already evident and present. The federal government must now act with foresight and not always when it is too late, "said the health policy spokeswoman for the FDP, Christine Aschenberg-Dugnus, the SPIEGEL. "We are calling for a nationwide expansion of outpatient and inpatient Long Covid treatment centers." Citizens are entitled to the best possible health care not only during, but also after a Covid-19 disease. "We have to act and not hesitate," demands the FDP.

The long-term effects of the disease can vary widely: exhaustion, headache, fatigue, hair loss, difficulty concentrating, shortness of breath, neurological problems or so-called fatigue (exhaustion syndrome) are among the characteristics that occur most frequently.

Most people report having more than one of these symptoms.

In many German cities, long-covid outpatient clinics have already been set up on the initiative of clinics, to which those affected can address themselves.

So far, however, Long Covid has not yet been regularly recorded in the reporting system by the Robert Koch Institute (RKI).

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