BARBARA GEIER COLUMN

The same problems?

When you live abroad, you naturally see everything from two perspectives. That of your adopted country and the perspective of your home country. And when you have a habit of consuming media from both of ‘your countries’, as I do, you sometimes notice that those two perspectives are not that different altogether. At least not in the case of Germany and the UK.

Reading the news in English and German, particularly in the recent past, it strikes me that both countries have more or less the same problems and talking points. Or at least, they share a lot of them. Take healthcare, which is as much an issue in Germany as in the UK, even if the latter doesn’t want to believe that. Because – stereotypes die only very slowly – from the UK perspective, in Germany, everything is always running smoothly. Not quite. In December, a major German news outlet ran a story on Berlin’s Charité, one of Europe’s largest university hospitals, cancelling all elective surgery until the end of the year. Staff shortages, record levels of people being sick (the same kind of ‘mega flu’ as in the UK seems to have hit), the aftermath of Covid – it’s the perfect storm. The largest hospital in the federal state of Brandenburg announced similar postponements to allow for time-critical tumour surgeries and transplants, as well as the care of stroke and heart attack patients.

So, German hospitals are struggling, too, and based on the ‘behind-the-scenes’ stories I hear from a friend of mine who works as a doctor in a hospital… well, let’s just say, the system might be different, but the general issues are very similar to the UK NHS ones.

Another healthcare-related story I saw in various German news outlets in December concerned medicine shortages. The Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices announced shortages of various medicines, including (anti-)fever syrup for children, antibiotics and Amoxicillin, which is prescribed to children for middle ear infections, for example. Or, as one newspaper put it: “Hard to believe, but Germany is currently suffering from a shortage of medicines”. Thank God then, for good neighbours; the same article featured the tweet of someone calling herself ‘Ottermama1’ (why not) advising other (otter)mamas who are close to the Dutch border to just hop over, as there are no fever syrup shortages, indeed: “The stuff is given out in rough quantities”. So you see, the EU is working after all! And, not to forget: a happy and healthy New Year to all of you. Whatever happens, let us not forget that we’re all in this together.

Barbara Geier is a London-based freelance writer, translator and communications consultant. She is also the face behind www.germanyiswunderbar.com, a German travel and tourism guide and blog that was set up together with UK travel writer Andrew Eames in 2010.

Discover Germany Issue 101, January 2023

Published 01.2023 ISSN 2051-7718

Published by Scan Magazine Ltd.

Print H2 Print

Executive Editor Thomas Winther

Creative Director Mads E. Petersen

Editor Nane Steinhoff Assistant Editor Marilena Stracke

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Contributors Barbara Geier Cornelia Brelowski Daniel Cole Sakib Hadzovic Silke Henkele Stuart Forster

Cover Photo Alta Badia/Armin Terzer Sales & Key Account Managers Julia Freisinger Lawinia Toth Sophie Blecha Jörg Schmid

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