Interview • Resilience in healthcare
“We need redundancy at every level”
The threat of hybrid attacks in Germany is increasing. In this exclusive interview with MedLabPortal, DGKL CEO Jan Wolter highlights existing vulnerabilities and calls on policymakers to take action.
MedLabPortal: Mr Wolter, you will be speaking about resilience in healthcare at MEDICA. Why is this such an important issue?
© DGKL
Jan Wolter: ‘Quite simply, because lives depend on it.’
And the longer answer?
‘The German government is currently investing hundreds of billions of euros in defence. In principle, there is nothing wrong with improving our military preparedness for national defence. But if Germany were ever faced with a state of defence, the healthcare system would also need to be on a solid footing. At the same time, I see a greater risk from hybrid attacks than from a direct military confrontation.’
Do you expect hybrid threats to the healthcare system to increase?
‘Germany does not only have friends in the world. There are actors doing everything they can to destabilise, weaken or undermine Western democracies. In that sense, the healthcare system is an ideal target.’
Let us be more specific. Hospitals are hardly going to be able or willing to invest in systems to intercept drones. Who, then, should be responsible for protecting this critical infrastructure?
‘Of course, we cannot put a gun turret on every hospital. That is why I am talking about resilience, not defence. Resilience means designing the system in such a way that a failure can be compensated for and the affected unit can be restored within a reasonable period of time.’
Would the Bundeswehr’s Homeland Defence Division not be an option?
‘No. The Bundeswehr should not be deployed domestically if there is no open war. In addition, the division consists predominantly of reservists.’
You mentioned redundant systems as one of the pillars of resilience. Should these only be used in cybersecurity, or will part of every blood sample eventually be sent to a bunker?
‘We need redundancy at every level. Of course, that does not mean sending blood samples to bunkers or building laboratories underground. But it does mean maintaining more laboratory capacity than we need on average. And we must not take centralisation and specialisation too far. We cannot allow a situation in which certain important parameters can only be measured in two laboratories across the whole of Germany.’
As CEO of the DGKL, you regularly speak with members of the Bundestag and Germany’s state parliaments. What is your impression: do policymakers understand the threats facing the healthcare system?
‘It varies considerably, but there also still seems to be a gap between understanding the problem and actually taking action. At present, I cannot see any substantial measures being developed by the Federal Chancellery, the Federal Ministry of the Interior or the Federal Ministry of Health to strengthen the resilience of the healthcare system. If such work is taking place, laboratories are apparently not being involved, which would not be a good approach.’
At the moment, what we are primarily seeing are substantial cuts in healthcare.
‘That is exactly what I mean by the gap between understanding and action. These cuts run counter to the idea of resilience. At the same time, simply pouring more money into the system is not the answer either. If we undertake the reset of our healthcare system that I have called for previously, resilience must be built into that process from the outset.’
Would you say resilience and security go hand in hand?
‘You always have to assume that something will fail. The cause might be human error, a technical fault, chance or an attack. There is no such thing as absolute security. Resilience, however, gives us a safety net that catches us when something goes wrong.’
You now have the opportunity to give the Federal Minister of Health one piece of advice on resilience. What would it be?
‘The ideal solution would, of course, be the reset I mentioned. But if we want to improve our preparedness in the short term, the Federal Ministry of Health needs to develop a resilience strategy for the healthcare system. This process should involve relevant experts, including representatives from civil protection and disaster response, the Bundeswehr and, of course, laboratory medicine.’
Thank you very much for your time.
Questions by Vlad Georgescu
Source: Messe Düsseldorf/DGKL
15.11.2026
