Focus COVID-19

For more than 100 years, our mission has been to preserve life, promote health and improve patients' quality of life – as defined in our company objective – better medicine for more people. The importance of modern and functional health care for society became particularly clear in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our employees worldwide have tirelessly helped to keep the clinics, dialysis centers, factories and logistics running.

Fresenius Medical Care

The company partners with other dialysis providers to combat COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. A nationwide emergency plan with other dialysis organizations was set up in order to create capacities across providers for isolated treatment and thus to ensure the continuity of care for dialysis patients.

Fresenius Medical Care established strict safety protocols in its more than 4000 clinics to maintain the provision of essential treatments while reducing the risk of infection for patients and staff. Measures included screening all patients and staff entering the clinics and providing them with personal protective equipment. Under these circumstances, the business segment treated more than 29,000 patients with COVID-19 in North America.

Fresenius Medical Care expanded the production at St. Wendel plant in response to higher demand caused by COVID-19 pandemic. Work on the new line was accelerated due to the coronavirus pandemic, enabling the company to put it into operation several months ahead of schedule.

Fresenius Kabi

Despite the significantly higher production costs for essential drugs used to treat COVID-19 patients, Fresenius Kabi keeps prices for these drugs stable during the pandemic.

Fresenius Kabi has responded to the significant increase in worldwide demand for essential drugs and infusion technology for the treatment of COVID-19 patients, especially medicines for sedation such as Propofol, pain management drugs, and infusion pumps. The company maximized supply, with all compatible manufacturing capacity dedicated to these important products.

 
Fresenius Helios

The number of intensive care beds in Germany in spring 2020 was increased from 900 to 1,500; in the fall, the number was increased again to a total of 2,300 beds.

Fresenius Helios also launched a COVID-19 hotline in Germany in 2020, offering 24-hour telephone advice from 30 experts and receiving around 18,000 calls during the first peak phase of the pandemic.

Furthermore, Helios Germany publishes the bed utilization in each of its hospitals on a daily basis to contribute data-based evaluation of the situation in the hospitals.

During the first wave, the Spanish hospitals temporarily duplicated the number of intensive care beds, and incremented the conventional hospital beds to respond to the elevated number of COVID-19 patients. Helios Spain treated around 13% of the country’s total COVID-19 patients during the first wave of the pandemic.

Helios Spain used its corporate social media channel in Spanish language to provide written information or videos on most urgent questions, like hygiene, vaccines or even the impact on family life, as well as information on the impact of appointments in hospitals and the availability of COVID-19 tests in its centers.

 
Fresenius Vamed

The company has contributed significantly with its technical services to the continuous operation of the health care facilities it takes care of worldwide.

Fresenius Vamed created catalogs of measures in which the pandemic experiences of all its health care facilities are collected. The experience gained will continue to be incorporated into risk management in the future; it will help Fresenius Vamed to continuously improve its processes and responsible action.

Contact us

Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA
Else-Kröner-Str. 1
61352 Bad Homburg v.d.H.
Germany
T +49 (0) 6172 608-2294
pr-fre@fresenius.com

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Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA

Management Board

Fresenius Medical Care