German local authorities provide Covid medical supplies to Poland

The German city of Leipzig has sent a shipment of protective supplies with an estimated value of €100,000 to hospitals in its partner city of Kraków. The Polish city also hopes to soon receive more substantial transports of medical equipment from Leipzig and its region.

The development comes after the Polish national government said last month that offers of help from Germany were unnecessary, because Poland is “self sufficient”.

However, many local Polish authorities have welcomed offers of support, and a number of their German counterparts have already begun sending equipment.

The transport from Leipzig included 10,000 surgical and FFP2 masks, 17,500 reusable face masks, 2,500 bottles of disinfection fluid, and 500 reusable surgical aprons produced by the Leipzig Opera, according to a post on the eastern German city’s website.

The equipment – which was sent in response to an appeal from Kraków – was transported to Poland for free by German delivery firm DHL, part of Deutsche Post. It will now be distributed among three Kraków hospitals.

“Given the difficult situation in Kraków, it is important for us to send this sign of solidarity,” said Leipzig mayor Burkhard Jung. “The almost 50 years of our partnership have pulled us together, and in this way we will also overcome these challenges together.”

“I wish those who are ill in Kraków, including my colleague Jacek Majchrowski, a speedy recovery,” Jung added, referring to Kraków’s 73-year-old mayor, who was last week hospitalised with coronavirus. Majchrowski was discharged and returned home on Friday, but remains off work for two weeks.

In a post on its own website, Kraków city council thanked Jung and his colleagues for their “enormous support and solidarity” in the fight with COVID-19, which is “the biggest challenge for the Polish health service for many years”.

“We are very happy that [the supplies] arrived, because there are never enough of these personal protection materials and they get used up very quickly,” Jerzy Friediger, the director of the Żeromski hospital, one of the recipients, told TVN24.

The Leipzig authorities are currently working with authorities in state of Saxony and in the neighbouring city of Dresden to secure further medical equipment to send to Kraków, according to the Polish city’s website.

Other cities, including Tarnów, which lies around 90 km east of Kraków, have also received help from Leipzig, according to TVN24.

As coronavirus infections escalated rapidly in October, and with widespread reports that the Polish healthcare system was struggling to cope, German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier wrote to his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda offering help.

Germany’s Europe minister, Michael Roth, also confirmed that the country was ready to offer support to its European neighbours. However, Poland, unlike countries including Belgium and the Czech Republic, rejected the idea of German aid.

Poland is “self-sufficient” and “does not need such help,” deputy health minister Waldemar Kraska told Polskie Radio last month.

However, some local authorities have sought support. The head of the regional authority of Mazovia Province, where Warsaw is located, said that, “in contrast to the government, we are interested in help”. He requested assistance from the states of Brandenburg and Saxony-Anhalt.

Brandenberg has responded positively to a similar request from Lubusz Province in western Poland, reports Gazeta.pl. The German state has sent several thousand FFP2 masks, ventilation devices, pulse oximeters and hand disinfectant. Lower Silesia Province has received similar support from Saxony.

Among others to have asked for German help over the last month are the cities of Kielce, Wrocław and Opole, as well as the Wielkopolska Province, reports Wirtualna Polska. Many individuals hospitals have also appealed for assistance.

“Despite the assurances of our government, the Polish health service is struggling with huge shortages in the fight against the virus,” wrote the head of Włodawa County in eastern Poland in a letter to the German ambassador, quoted by Wirtualna Polska.

Main image credit: Bogusław Świerzowski/Krakow.pl

Ben Koschalka

Ben Koschalka is a translator and senior editor at Notes from Poland. Originally from Britain, he has lived in Kraków since 2005.