The flood disaster in Rhineland-Palatinate destroyed houses and streets – but also hospitals and medical practices. According to experts, the health of the population is massively threatened.
Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler – Two weeks after the devastating floods in Rhineland-Palatinate, medical officers have criticized significant shortcomings in basic medical care in the flood areas.
The situation is “still frightening” and there is a risk of epidemics in the affected regions, said the chairwoman of the Federal Association of Doctors of the Public Health Service, Ute Teichert, the newspapers of the Funke media group.
The health of the population in the disaster areas is “massively threatened because the infrastructure is not working”. Among other things, hospitals and practices were destroyed in some places. Teichert, who headed the health department in the flood-affected district of Ahrweiler until 2012, explained that many people would have to get by without urgently needed medication. This is a big problem, especially for people with diseases such as diabetes or heart disease, the newspaper report said. Now it is important to organize mobile medical units and bring them to the towns
The flood of July 14th hit the Ahr valley particularly badly. Most recently, 134 deaths were counted. 73 people were missing. The number of injuries after the heavy rain and the resulting flash floods was last given as 766. dpa
