In order to avoid bottlenecks in intensive medical treatment, several dozen patients are to be transferred from the regions in the east and south that are heavily affected by Corona to other parts of Germany by the weekend.

As the chairman of the working group of the Conference of Interior Ministers for firefighting affairs, rescue, disaster control and civil defense, Hermann Schröder, informed on request, applications for nationwide transfer for a total of about 80 patients from Bavaria and the Cloverleaf East were examined via the so-called cloverleaf procedure on Wednesday.

Covid 19 patients in particular are to be transferred to other regions. In exceptional cases, patients with other diseases could also be transferred, Schröder said. In general, care will be taken to ensure that the receiving hospitals are located in regions that are currently less affected by the Corona pandemic.

Thuringia, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Brandenburg and Berlin belong to the Cloverleaf East. The Free State of Bavaria, which is currently also severely affected by Corona, alone forms the Cloverleaf South.

Under the impression of the first Corona wave, the federal and state governments had developed a concept for the nationwide transfer of patients in spring 2020. In September last year, the so-called cloverleaf concept was then adopted by the ministers of the interior and health.

It provides for transfers to take place initially within the five regions - west, north, east, south and southwest. If it is foreseeable that there will be no more free places in one of these regions, the transfer to other areas will be organized in consultation with the Joint Reporting and Situation Center of the federal and state governments at the Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance (BBK). A specialist group of the Robert Koch Institute provides advice in this regard.

This is the first time since the beginning of the fourth Corona wave that nationwide transfers have been organized using the cloverleaf procedure. Rescue helicopters are also used to transport patients.

Photo by Martha Dominguez de Gouveia