AfD on health and care

The AfD calls for a transparent review of the COVID period, arguing that medical decisions were not made professionally. It rejects restrictions on freedom and compulsory vaccination.

The AfD wants a close look at the COVID years. It thinks wrong decisions were made back then. It is against strict rules that limit people. It is also against forced vaccination.

The program says the country was poorly prepared for a health emergency. An open review is meant to help meet future medical challenges professionally. The AfD rejects repressive measures, restrictions on freedom and compulsory vaccination.

Until federal long-term care funding is reformed, the AfD wants Hamburg's state budget to provide financial relief to people needing care. At the same time, the city's care inspectorate should get more staff and inspect nursing homes much more intensively.

Care costs a lot of money. Many people who need care become poor. The AfD wants Hamburg to help them with money. Nursing homes should also be checked more often. The city should hire more inspectors for this.

According to the program, insufficient benefits from long-term care insurance make needing care a serious poverty risk. A fundamental reform is only possible at federal level and will take years; until then Hamburg should relieve especially low-income people, which the Senate has the authority to do. Compliance with quality standards in nursing homes should be checked much more thoroughly. The care inspectorate should get more qualified staff for this.

Doctors from outside the EU should no longer be licensed based on documents alone. Instead, the AfD wants a written and oral or practical exam at the level of the German state medical exam to protect patients.

Some doctors come from countries outside the EU. Often they only show their certificates. The AfD wants more. These doctors should take a test. The test should be as hard as for German doctors.

According to the program, submitting documents is currently enough, although experts doubt that foreign degrees are equivalent. The document check should be replaced by an exam at the level of the state medical examination. Written and oral or practical exams should be taken before starting work. The AfD says this aims to spot gaps early and prevent treatment errors.

The AfD wants to reduce hospital-acquired infections through a quality program modeled on the Netherlands. Hospitals should publish annual hygiene reports and get support if infection rates are high.

Some patients catch germs in hospitals. The AfD wants fewer such cases. Hospitals should publish a hygiene report every year. Hospitals with many infections should get help.

The goal is to reduce infections, complications and deaths in hospitals. The model is a quality program from the Netherlands. Hospitals with elevated infection rates should get support for staff training, especially for cleaning staff, and for hand hygiene programs.

To address the shortage of midwives, the AfD wants to make the profession more financially attractive. Following the Bavarian model, midwives should get a start-up bonus for setting up practice and a bonus for attending at least four births a year.

Hamburg has too few midwives. The AfD wants to make the job better. Midwives should get money when they open their own practice. There should also be a bonus. Pregnant women should get better information.

According to the program, expectant parents in Hamburg struggle to find a midwife. The start-up and birth bonuses are meant to partly offset high liability insurance premiums. Health authorities, insurers and doctors should also better inform expectant mothers about the midwife services they are entitled to.

The AfD views medical care and health protection as national responsibilities without interference from the WHO or the EU. Care should be organized locally, available everywhere and for all citizens, according to proven quality standards.

The AfD says health is Germany's own business. The WHO and the EU should not decide. The WHO is the World Health Organization. Doctors should be close by everywhere.

The program rejects being told what to do by the World Health Organization and the EU. Care should be organized locally and guaranteed across the board. Patients should receive the best possible treatment close to home and promptly, based on proven quality standards.

The AfD wants to split the combined nursing training back into elderly care, pediatric and general nursing, and add assistant levels. Family caregivers should get more support, especially financial, and doctors should be relieved of paperwork by assistants.

Today there is one shared training for all care jobs. The AfD wants three separate trainings again. There should also be short trainings for helpers. Families caring for relatives should get more money. Doctors should get helpers for office work.

The separate training programs should last one and a half to three years. In all areas, an assistant level with several months of training should relieve skilled staff. Care by relatives should be promoted, especially financially, where professional care is not strictly needed; the program sees it as an act of charity that eases the burden on health care. More assistant positions reporting to the medical staff should be created for doctors.