With more and more travel across continents, the risk of global spread of infectious diseases is increasing. If individuals with potentially highly contagious pathogens are on board a ship or an airplane, proven emergency plans are activated to prevent the spread as much as possible. The Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (FHH) is already well-prepared and is now investing around 440,000 euros to expand and enhance the flexibility of its infrastructure. Social Senator Melanie Schlotzhauer and Berit Schmitz, Managing Director of Flughafen Hamburg GmbH (FHG), signed an agreement today to maintain a mobile Medical Assessment Center.
Social Senator Melanie Schlotzhauer: “When an international public health emergency arises, we must be able to respond as quickly and effectively as possible. Hamburg, with its two border crossing points at the port and airport, is more challenged than other regions. Therefore, we are strengthening public health protection beyond the legal minimum requirements with a mobile and thus flexible design of the existing infrastructure. The excellent cooperation between the Public Health Service and Hamburg Airport will be sustainably expanded.”
Berit Schmitz, Managing Director of Flughafen Hamburg GmbH: “Our emergency teams at Hamburg Airport are already prepared for special situations. It is only logical that special equipment and skills can also be used outside the airport in an emergency. Today’s agreement creates the conditions for the state’s emergency teams and our airport fire brigade to further expand their existing cooperation in special situations.”
Hamburg is investing a total of around 440,000 euros for the two border crossing points at the port and airport. Ninety percent of the funds come from the federal program to strengthen airports and seaports designated under the International Health Regulations (IHR) as part of the Public Health Service Pact. The remaining 10 percent is covered by Hamburg. Hamburg is extensively utilizing the funding program to solidify its nationally recognized pioneering role. Eligible items include medical and technical equipment, facilities, transportation, or quarantine facilities.
In a Medical Assessment Center (MAC), travelers can be questioned, cared for, and examined by the Public Health Service. The expansion and mobile design of the MAC aim to enable better-equipped, faster, and more flexible medical evaluation on-site and more stringent passenger and contact person management. The existing infrastructure at the airport can then continue to be used flexibly in the airport fire brigade’s facilities, on the tarmac, and in the large port area. This avoids parallel structures and redundancies. Additionally, the MAC infrastructure will be available throughout the city and can support local emergency teams depending on the situation.
To implement the investment measures, an agreement that has existed since 2014 under Section 8 (4) of the IHR-DG between the FHH and the FHG to maintain core capacities at Hamburg Airport has been supplemented. Social Senator Melanie Schlotzhauer and the FHG management signed the corresponding agreement today. The cooperation will be operationally managed by the Port and Airport Medical Service of the Hamburg Port Health Center (HPHC) and the airport fire brigade.
Background
According to the IHR, each country must designate border crossing points that have the legally required capacity to protect public health. In Germany, five ports and five airports have been designated to maintain arrangements for the examination, treatment and, if necessary, quarantine of travellers crossing the border. Hamburg is the only federal state with two designated border crossing points, the port and the airport. The core capacities required by the IHR include access to appropriate medical services, including diagnostic facilities, located in such a way as to enable immediate examination and treatment of sick travellers, as well as suitable staff, equipment and premises.