Given the high number of heat-related deaths this year, doctors have accused the federal government of failure. "To this day, de facto nothing has happened," said Nicola Buhlinger-Göpfarth, chair of the German Association of General Practitioners (Hausärztinnen- und Hausärzteverband), speaking to the "Rheinische Post" (Friday edition). She was commenting on the release of new data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), according to which Germany has already recorded almost 12,000 heat deaths this year.
According to the RKI, 9,600 of these deaths alone occurred during the heat week starting on June 22. "Almost 10,000 heat deaths as a result of a single week in June are no longer a warning shot. The real emergency has already arrived," said Buhlinger-Göpfarth. She criticized the fact that the issue has repeatedly disappeared from the political agenda once temperatures drop again in autumn. The high number of heat deaths was therefore "shocking, but unfortunately not really surprising."
"In Germany, we are very good at discussing plans and declarations of intent. But when it comes to actual implementation, things quickly go quiet," the association chair criticized. This was also due to the fact that heat protection costs money, she said, adding that "nothing will change with good will alone."
The federal government must now act, and must also provide funding, the General Practitioners' Association demanded. "In addition to GP practices, nursing homes in particular must be put in a position to properly protect their residents from heat," Buhlinger-Göpfarth demanded. Doctors repeatedly experience during home visits that this is not the case in many places.
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