BAD KREUZNACH – In our reporting on the corona situation in the district, we mentioned on Saturday that the Augusta Rehabilitation Clinic in Kurhausstrasse was being discussed as a supplement to the acute hospitals. Managing Director Olaf Kugelchen now contradicts this.
The Augusta Clinic is currently not intended for intensive medical care for patients, just like most other rehabilitation facilities. “But this can change very quickly,” says Kugelchen, who warns: “There is a need for improvement in the financing of these maintenance costs for the preventive and rehabilitation facilities.” Because the rehabilitation clinics would be asked by the state government to use their inpatient capacities for the eventual Keep treatment of corona patients clear. However, the financial vacancy regulation is currently “insufficient” – “this will break all of our income,” said Kugelchen.
A “nationwide hospital protection shield for all preventive and rehabilitation clinics must be created,” said Kugelchen. That would be the basis for safety planning. Because these institutions are currently forced to register short-time work, to close and to dismiss doctors and nurses. “This cannot be the right signal in the current crisis situation.”
The Augusta Clinic is still available as a rehabilitation facility that could also take on outpatient care if necessary. But all of this only if the staff could be equipped with sufficient protective equipment – which is currently problematic. But “without this precaution, no employee of our clinic can be expected to continue working on patients.”
