In the company he reaches people who rarely go to the family doctor in private, says Christoph Oberlinner.

Mostly men, between 30 and 60 years old, who would otherwise avoid medical checkups.

However, if the employer asks for a "preventive occupational medical check-up", they should be there too.

The employer, in the case of the occupational physician Oberlinner, is BASF.

The 47-year-old man from Palatinate has been with the chemical company since 2004.

As Chief Medical Officer, he leads a team of 150 people, including 24 doctors.

This means that BASF has one of the largest occupational health services in German industry - and is therefore a symbol of the role of company doctors in the pandemic.

Bernd Freytag

Business correspondent Rhein-Neckar-Saar based in Mainz.

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According to the Robert Koch Institute, they have administered around 2.5 million vaccine doses so far. And because many of them also work as statutory health insurance doctors, there are probably even more. Your role in boosting, the third vaccination, will certainly not be insignificant, as the Association of Company and Works Doctors (VDBW) suspects. Here, too, the colleagues would be ready. It is foreseeable that the demand will be high, especially since many vaccination centers are closed and general practitioners are overburdened. So why not take advantage of the fact that the approximately 12,000 company doctors have direct access to 45 million employees? As far as prioritization is concerned, the company doctors will adhere to the recommendations of the Standing Vaccination Commission (STIKO).

In Ludwigshafen, on the largest connected chemical site in the world, Oberlinner's team takes care of almost 40,000 employees.

There are also around 8,000 employees from external companies.

“Contractors”, as they are called, who also work on the premises.

They, too, receive acute care from BASF if required.

The largest chemical company in the world has been keeping an eye on the health of its employees for a long time.

The company has employed company doctors for more than 150 years.

Today, the shortage of skilled workers and the aging workforce ensure that the group takes care of its employees out of self-interest.

The scope for distribution in the high-income industry is still there, and the standards are correspondingly high.

A six-story building for a double-digit million amount

Five years ago, BASF opened the “LuMit” near the plant - an “employee center for work-life management”. Employees will not only find a daycare center and fitness rooms there. If you want, you can also get advice: on caring for relatives, on addiction issues, marital crises, financial difficulties. In the next year, the shell of the group’s new medical center will be ready. The six-storey building including the ambulance station is costing BASF a mid-double-digit million amount. The new treatment center is to replace the outdated old ambulance building.

Even before the outbreak of Corona, the medical service was busy.

In addition to preventive occupational health care, according to Oberlinner, there is acute care manned around the clock, as well as a dedicated rescue service and the broad field of health promotion.

When the factories are full, i.e. in pre-Corona times, around 33,000 acute care would be due annually.

“From wasp stings and headaches to serious accidents.” Like any doctor, company doctors are also obliged to maintain secrecy.

The trust is therefore great.

"After all, medical service has long been part of corporate culture."