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What cantonal health directors decided Thursday is not enough for scientists. But the federal government and the cantons are blocked.
More space is needed for Covid patients in hospitals: Health managers want to cut down on elective interventions immediately.
Photo: Laurent Gillieron (Keystone)
Insert a new hip joint or remove the prostate: Swiss hospitals now have to quickly reverse these non-urgent medical interventions to have enough staff and space available for Covid patients. The cantonal health directors decided on Thursday in Bern. In doing so, they relied on assessments from the federal scientific task force, which warns that without further action, hospitals could be attacked in mid-November (read how the Taskforce wants to roll back the virus).
“The situation is very serious,” Lukas Engelberger, president of the Health Directors Conference, told a news conference. In some cantons, intensive care units were already reaching the limit of their capacity: “We have to act.”
The Swiss Society of Intensive Care Medicine also spoke out on Thursday in favor of postponing non-urgent interventions and treatments. Already in the spring, with the first wave of the corona pandemic, the federal government had strongly oriented the health system to Covid cases.
Difficult discussions
The new corona rapid tests, which Federal Councilor Alain Berset discussed with the cantons, are supposed to help prevent hospitals from being overloaded. These will be used soon, but not for travelers at airports or in companies, as some commercial representatives wanted. Rather, like previous PCR tests in the healthcare system, they are intended to monitor the spread of the virus as precisely as possible and prevent new infections.
However, the cantons could not agree on further steps, especially with the federal government. Federal Councilor Alain Berset and Cantonal Representative Lukas Engelberger courteously thanked each other in front of the media. But before that there had been “tough discussions,” it was later said behind the scenes, so tough and in detail that the meeting went beyond the time frame. Several lines of conflict came to light, so the federal government and the cantons block each other.
French-speaking Swiss vs. German Swiss
While the cantons of western Switzerland increasingly restrict public life (in Overview on cantonal crown measures), several German-speaking cantons are not convinced that further measures are necessary. They, who were barely registered by the first wave, consider that the current requirement of the national mask and the specific cantonal restrictions on the events are sufficient. Some people from eastern Switzerland say that the number of hospital admissions is low despite the high number of infections.
However, the situation is very different: while Glarus does not have a single hospital patient with Covid, St. Gallen has almost the same number of patients as in the first wave. Petra Steimen, health director of the severely affected canton of Schwyz, was not present in this conversation: she is in quarantine due to a case of corona in the family.
The second line of conflict runs between the Confederation and the cantons. Health Minister Alain Berset asked the cantonal authorities to react again. Berset made clear what he expected by repeatedly praising the Valais for its “drastic measures.”
But the Health Minister also promised more Federal Council resolutions for next Wednesday. Berset argued that it couldn’t be faster; after all, it is not in emergency law mode and it is very important to the Federal Council that the cantons are properly involved before decisions are made. That is why it carries out a consultation before the new decisions of the Federal Council, in which the cantons can give their opinion on Friday.
Berset runs its course
Berset’s rigid schedule, in turn, angered cantons, including those who criticized the Federal Council in the first wave for proceeding too arbitrarily. The French-speaking Swiss and some German-speaking Swiss asked the federal government to issue stricter national rules as soon as possible, because the virus is spreading rapidly through Switzerland. Other cantons argued that they could not quickly impose restrictions in the coming days if the Federal Council wanted to pass a national regulation soon after anyway. Cantons that went beyond this would have to justify themselves, and those that went less far would have to make more improvements.
However, Berset did not let himself speak, complained a representative of the canton, although the Federal Council also pointed out to the media that the virus does not adhere to the borders of the canton. But Berset does not seem inclined to relieve the cantons out of hand, after they have vociferously demanded that their powers be restored, but several have not done their homework.
The National Green Council of Geneva, Nicolas Walder, suspects a different motivation: “a central question: who should make the decisions and, therefore, the compensation?”
However, Federal Councilor Berset and Cantonal Representative Engelberger vehemently denied a dispute over economic interests. First, the necessary measures to protect the health system will be decided, only then will the costs be addressed.
