Medical technology strengthens the resilience of healthcare.
Healthcare is no longer just a socio-political issue; it is a matter of national security. For this reason, we have published the white paper "The Contribution of Medical Technology to Strengthening the Resilience of Healthcare" together with the industry association SPECTARIS.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and increasingly frequent extreme weather events, it has become clear that a healthcare system that fails in a crisis jeopardizes the overall ability of the state to act. Medical technology plays a key role in this, not merely as a supplier, but as a strategic enabler for robust, scalable, and dual-purpose healthcare structures.
Together with SPECTARIS, we formulate concrete policy recommendations:
- Establish health as a safety factor: A coherent Health Security Act (GSiG) is intended to create clear responsibilities and ensure a legally secure transition from normal to crisis mode.
- Making procurement crisis-proof: Accelerated procurement procedures, clear regulations on stockpiling and permanent financing of resilience measures beyond normal operations are urgently needed.
- Systematically involve industry: Medical technology companies must be involved early in crisis management teams, planning processes and joint exercises with hospitals, disaster relief organizations and authorities.
- Consistently promote dual-use: Technologies and structures should be designed in such a way that they can be used economically in everyday civilian life and scaled up quickly in a crisis – dual-use should be explicitly recognized as a funding criterion.
- Strengthening digitalization and cyber resilience: Interoperable digital platforms, cross-system communication and secure IT infrastructures are key prerequisites for a crisis-proof healthcare system.
- Expand training and exercises: Technical resilience alone is not enough; hybrid personnel models, digital training concepts and regular joint exercises are just as necessary as robust equipment.
The full whitepaper is available for download here.