The crisis in the health system is currently on everyone’s lips: there was also a lively debate about it in the National Council on Thursday. The opposition – especially the SPÖ, which put the issue on the agenda – accused the government of not doing anything about the huge shortage of hospital and nursing staff and the shortage of doctors. Vice Chancellor Werner Kogler (Greens) then had to defend Chancellor Nehammer.
“The health care of the Austrian population is in danger. When will you finally become active, Mr. Chancellor?” the SPÖ had formulated as the subject of the current hour. However, Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) is on a trip in Africa. Vice Chancellor Kogler therefore answered in his place.
SPÖ leader: “I haven’t done anything for years”
The government and especially Health Minister Johannes Rauch (Greens) accused SPÖ boss Rendi-Wagner of not doing anything for years. Now, due to the lack of doctors and staff, many patients can no longer be adequately cared for, sick people have to be sent home, operations have to be postponed for months. The government, the SP leader demanded, must immediately sit around the table with all those involved and “work until there is a solution for the Austrian healthcare system”.
The government is “watching and doing something,” de Kogler countered. He refers to the measures taken and the ongoing negotiations on financial equalization. Minister Rauch is currently making an “honest effort” to improve the structures – to free up resources that can then be used for well-founded concerns.
“low-threshold top medicine”
ÖVP health spokesman Josef Smolle did not accept the opposition’s criticism at all: “We have an excellent health system in Austria”, with the certainty of “getting absolutely top quality medicines for everyone”. The hospitals have not been thinned out, the workforce has even increased. And you can’t call the chancellor – there are many responsible, for example the federal states for the hospitals.
The FPÖ did not believe the black-green assurances: “The government has done absolutely nothing to improve the situation”, health spokesman Gerhard Kaniak pointed out that “the health care reform was more frustrating than it helped”. The coalition has always “postponed the many proposals from the opposition since 2020”.
There are enough doctors and funds for NEOS, but structural changes are needed to improve care. It can’t be “that patients have to pay twice, for social security and for the doctors of their choice,” says Fiona Fiedler. She advocated for a rapid expansion of primary care centers.
The end of “Wiener Zeitung” must be sealed
The program for Thursday’s meeting later states that the “Wiener Zeitung” will stop in its current form. SPÖ leader Rendi-Wagner therefore accused Vice Chancellor Kogler of the “shame” of the Greens’ contribution to “burying the world’s oldest newspaper”.
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.
