Support for refugees from Ukraine
Since Ukrainian refugees first started arriving in Berlin, our inpatient and outpatient services have been providing care to those in need.
Interested in studying at Charité? We have prepared a list of FAQs which aims to provide answers to your most important questions.
Working at Charité: Are you currently looking for work? In addition to information on career opportunities at Charité, we also provide support with all the necessary formalities involved in seeking and securing employment. Visit our welcome page, which is also available in Ukrainian.
Important information on coronavirus
The ongoing coronavirus pandemic continues to generate new issues and regulations and give rise to important new information – also at Charité.
- What rules currently apply to visitors and persons wishing to accompany or support patients?
- What do patients need to be aware of?
A clear overview of the most important information on coronavirus and related matters can be found on our dedicated coronavirus page. This page also provides information on how to prevent infection with the coronavirus and outlines the steps which each of us can take to keep ourselves and others safe.
Rules for outpatients and day case patients
Currently, the following patient groups must provide proof of either a negative rapid antigen test result (obtained no more than 24 hours earlier) or PCR test result (obtained no more than 48 hours earlier) when attending Charité outpatient departments:
- Vulnerable patients, such as hematology-oncology patients and other immunosuppressed patients
- Day case patients: patients attending on a daily basis must undergo SARS-CoV-2 testing at least twice a week. It is important that testing be performed after the weekend and after any other interruptions in treatment (i.e., always provide proof of a negative test result on a Monday and on one other day of the week)
- Patients who will spend an extended period of time in an outpatient department, e.g., for a preoperative assessment/examination
- Outpatients taking part in clinical studies
This testing requirement applies to all patients aged 6 and older, including fully vaccinated and/or recovered patients. It does not apply to school-aged students who undergo regular testing as part of a voluntary school-based testing program. For these students, it will be sufficient to present their student ID card and their current school-based test result. This exemption does not apply during school holidays. Asymptomatic children aged 5 or younger do not require proof of testing.
Patients may bring a visitor when attending their appointments. All visitors must observe the rules currently in place for visitors and accompanying visitors.
Test centers
- For Campus Benjamin Franklin (CBF), you can use the test center situated on Brahmsstraße, near the northern entrance. In accordance with the current version of the Coronavirus Test Ordinance (TestV), the center offers both rapid antigen- and PCR-based testing. All tests falling under the individual entitlement (Bürgertestung) category will be free. The test center’s opening hours are: Monday to Friday, 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM; Saturday and Sunday (including public holidays), 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM.
- At the Campus Charité Mitte (CCM), an external mobile testing station is available at the so-called "Storchenparkplatz" near the entrance to the central emergency rooms (opening hours: Monday to Friday from 7:00 AM to 6:00 PM, Saturday and Sunday from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM).
- On Campus Virchow-Klinikum (CVK), you can use one of two external test centers, which are situated at the Augustenburger Platz and Seestraße entrances. The Augustenburger Platz test center is open daily from 7:00 AM to 8:00 PM; the Seestraße test center is open daily from 7:30 AM to 6:00 PM.
The aim of these measures is to prevent the virus from entering and spreading through Charité, and to optimize the level of protection in place for particularly vulnerable patients, for patients with severe underlying medical conditions, for visitors and accompanying visitors, and for Charité members of staff. These measures were established pursuant to the SARS-CoV-2 Basic Protective Measures Ordinance (BaSchMV) of 03.06.2022.
Please bring your identity card or passport with you to your scheduled visit. These will be checked at the entrance and your details recorded. You will then be issued with a visitor pass or visitor armband and granted admission to the hospital grounds.
Visitors are advised that checks at entrances may result in delays. We apologize for any inconvenience caused. To minimize delays, please ensure that you have all required documentation ready for inspection.
The collection and processing of personal data is solely for infection control purposes, in order to ensure the safety of patients, visitors, accompanying visitors and hospital staff should an infection develop or be diagnosed at a later stage. All collected data will be erased after a period of 2 weeks. Please click on the following link for more information on the processing of personal data under the GDPR.
Rules for visitors and accompanying visitors
Case numbers continue to fall, and we appear to have passed the peak of the Omicron wave. As a result, Charité is updating its rules for visitors and accompanying visitors.
From 7 March 2022, inpatients will once again be permitted to receive one visitor per day, for a maximum of one hour. Critically ill patients will be exempt from this restriction.
Outpatients, day case patients and patients attending Charité’s emergency departments may bring one accompanying visitor.
All visitors and accompanying visitors must provide proof of a negative rapid antigen test result obtained on the day of their visit.
The aim of these rules is to prevent the virus from entering and spreading through Charité, and to optimize the level of protection in place both for Charité staff and for particularly vulnerable patients with severe underlying medical conditions.
What these new rules mean in practice:
- Only individuals with a negative rapid antigen test result will be permitted to visit or accompany patients. This rule also applies to fully vaccinated and recovered individuals. To be considered valid, the negative test result must be no older than 24 hours. This testing requirement also applies to children above the age of 5 and to adolescents. Presentation of the child’s student ID card will not be sufficient. Asymptomatic children aged 5 or younger will not require proof of testing.
- To gain admission to hospital grounds, all visitors will be asked to show proof of a negative test result, in addition to an identity card or passport. Visitors will then be issued with a visitor pass or visitor armband and granted admission to Charité premises. Visitors who are unable to produce a visitor pass or armband will be asked to leave the premises immediately.
- Children and adolescents under the age of 19 who are being accompanied by a parent or carer during their stay may continue to receive one visitor (another parent or carer) for up to one hour every day. Exceptions may be made in certain circumstances, subject to discussion with the ward’s clinical and nursing managers.
The following rules remain unchanged:
- Mask mandate and distancing rules: Visitors and accompanying visitors must wear FFP2 masks (without a valve) at all times while inside Charité buildings and maintain a minimum distance of 1.5 meters from others whenever possible, including when outside.
- Individuals with symptoms of respiratory infection will not be permitted within any Charité buildings.
Please bring your identity card or passport with you to your scheduled visit. These will be checked at the entrance and your details recorded. You will then be issued with a visitor pass or visitor armband and granted admission to the hospital grounds.
Visitors are advised that checks at entrances may result in delays. We apologize for any inconvenience caused. To minimize delays, please ensure that you have all required documentation ready for inspection.
Digital visits via video call
While medical care is essential to a patient’s recovery, contact with loved ones also plays an important role. Ensuring that our patients remain in touch with their families during their stay at Charité is very important to us, especially during these challenging times. We therefore offer a video call service which enables our patients to see and speak to their loved ones while in hospital.
Interested patients can contact their ward’s nursing staff to arrange a video call and borrow a tablet computer for this purpose. Patients should also speak to a member of nursing staff to obtain the login details needed to register on Jitsi Meet in order to launch their video call-based digital visit.
You are worried you may have an infection. What to do?
Charité is one of the largest university hospitals in Europe. All of our clinical care, research and teaching is delivered by physicians and researchers of the highest international standard. Charité proudly lays claim to more than half of all German Nobel Prize winners in Physiology or Medicine, including Emil von Behring, Robert Koch, and Paul Ehrlich. Charité is internationally renowned for its excellence in teaching and training. Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin represents a single medical faculty, which serves both Humboldt Universität zu Berlin and Freie Universität Berlin. Charité extends over four campuses, and has over 100 different Departments and Institutes, which make up a total of 17 different CharitéCenters. Having marked its 300-year anniversary in 2010, Charité is now one of the largest employers in Berlin, employing 17,600 staff (or 20,900 if including its subsidiaries), and with a total annual turnover of €2.3 billion (including external funding and investment grants).
