Starting salary 10,000 euros per month for specialists in the hospitals of Burgenland. The doctors in Vienna can only dream of that. Will the forces that are so urgently needed leave soon? Other states also fear ‘salary races’. The tug-of-war over the doctors has begun.
The shortage of doctors is on everyone’s lips. Only on Monday did we report on the further reduction in surgical capacity in the urology department of the Favoriten clinic due to a lack of anaesthesiologists. Many aspiring doctors leave the country after their studies. One of the main reasons: better pay.
140,000 euros per year
Burgenland under the leadership of Hans Peter Doskozil is now pushing through and drastically increasing the salaries of hospital doctors. EUR 140,000 gross per year is the starting salary for specialists in Burgenland clinics in the future. That is 10,000 euros per month. After ten years of service, the compensation rises to 160,000 euros, just before the end of their careers the doctors have reached 200,000 euros.
Vienna lags behind
Sounds tempting. Because Viennese hospital salaries are quite modest. According to the Vienna Health Association, the entry fee for specialists is around 6,800 euros. Calculated over the year, this means that Viennese doctors earn more than a third less than in Burgenland.
“At the Vienna Health Association, the remuneration is based on the Vienna Civil Servants Act. As a company of the city of Vienna, we cannot independently decide or implement a salary increase,” said a spokeswoman. The question whether there was fear that doctors would now migrate to Burgenland was not answered.
States fear “salary race”
There are now also fears of a “wage race” in other states. Gerhard Posch, vice president of the Styrian Medical Association, pointed out: “It’s just that the state of Styria and the KAGes have to answer a young specialist why he should work in Hartberg or Fürstenfeld, when he can almost do that in Oberwart or Güssing Earn double for the same job.”
“Needs a holistic approach”
However, the provincial leadership of Upper Austria does not believe in starting an “overbidding competition between the federal states”: “Whoever thinks that the solution to the challenges in the healthcare system can be found in higher salaries is wrong. There is a holistic We need an approach that takes into account the overall conditions for workers,” Governor Thomas Stelzer told the Krone.
The situation is also dramatic in Carinthia. “The shortage of doctors and nursing staff is striking. I check the Kabeg homepage at least once a week. An average of 40 doctor positions are advertised. There are often a few departments where 13 doctors are wanted,” says Petra Preiss, spokeswoman for the active doctors in the Medical Association. If doctors also change state because of better pay, the situation could worsen in many places.
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
