The German health system is resilient and is an emerging global healthcare leader, according to a report published on 3 July in the Lancet.
The country's health system has proven remarkably resilient over its 135-year history, which has been marked by revolutions, wars, economic crises, and its separation and re-unification, wrote co-author Dr. Reinhard Busse of the Berlin Institute of Technology and colleagues.
Germany's bed capacity is 65% above the European Union (EU) average, and it has a high mean of hospital days per person (1.74 day per person, compared with 0.71 in Denmark, for example).
Of note for improvement, however, is a trend toward an increase in medicine consumption, up 50% from 2004 to 2015, Busse and colleagues wrote. As well, although the country has welcomed 1.2 million refugees since 2015, access to healthcare for refugees and migrants is lower than in some other countries, according to the report.
The report is part of a two paper series authored by researchers from the Berlin Institute of Technology and the Geneva Graduate Institute.
