[ad_1]
Friday, September 25, 2020
By Holger Schmidt-Denker
Only 85 percent of protective crown masks purchased by the federal government can be used in the healthcare sector. That is “an extremely bad rate”, says the spokeswoman for health policy of the parliamentary group FDP.
Around 1.248 billion protective masks are currently stored in Germany. This is based on a written request from the FDP parliamentary group to the Federal Ministry of Health, which RTL and ntv have received. The costs of acquiring surgical masks and FFP2 would be “including the deliveries of important masks planned for the end of 2021” for a total of around 5.9 billion euros, according to the response of the Ministry of Health.
However, only 85 per cent of the masks purchased are “marketable” and therefore usable for the health sector. Since the federal government refuses to pay for defective masks, many vendors are left to their own costs. They are suing the federal government for damages.
The federal government’s response shows that “the masks alone will cost taxpayers nearly six billion euros by the end of next year,” says Christine Aschenberg-Dugnus, spokeswoman for health policy for the FDP parliamentary group. “In addition, there are consulting costs of almost ten million euros so far; additional follow-up costs are not excluded.”
The FDP politician criticizes that only 85 percent of the masks are currently marketable. “If about 15 percent don’t meet quality standards in the healthcare sector, that’s an extremely bad rate,” says Aschenberg-Dugnus.
The inspection of the masks by the ministry also takes too long: “If the shelf life is only two years, you wonder how many can be used after the inspection is complete.” Aschenberg-Dugnus calls for the production of medical protective equipment to be returned to Germany and Europe, “so that we no longer have to pay the inflated prices from China.”
In the dispute over the unpaid masks, a process begins today before the Bonn Regional Court: a company demands 589,000 euros for the protective masks supplied. The company participated in the “open door process” that the Federal Ministry of Health launched in the spring in order to obtain more protective masks as quickly as possible due to the corona pandemic. The ministry then withdrew from the contract because the masks did not meet the quality requirements.
A total of about 60 lawsuits were filed against the federal government. To the outside world, despite the avalanche of lawsuits, the federal government is calm. However, as a precautionary measure, 1,200 million euros have been allocated to meet possible payment obligations, as announced on September 10 by the Federal Ministry of Health at the request of ntv.
The federal government has already learned a lesson from the misery of masks: it was decided in May to generously support the production of protective masks in Germany and Europe.
