By now, 70 percent of specialists and over 55 percent of general practitioners are the doctors of choice. The number of empty cash registers is exploding. The SPÖ is now demanding a turnaround.
There are more and more cracks in Austria’s healthcare system: the shortage of doctors is getting worse and dual medicine is advancing. The “Krone” has new data:
- The number of unfilled GP posts is in just 2 years exploded by 68 percent, from 62 to 104.
- At the same time the number of doctors of your choice in the field of family medicine to 3394. That is an increase of ten percent since 2020.
- About 55 percent of GPs (total 6122) are therefore doctors of choice.
- For specialists, the situation is even worse: of the 13,488 doctors in the private sector already are 70 percent (9397) work as private doctors.
- About 50 percent of GPs are older than 55 years.
SPÖ wants more places to study medicine
SPÖ deputy Mario Lindner, who collected these figures through a parliamentary inquiry, is alarmed. “Austrians have been feeling it for a long time: our health care is getting worse. We’ve been dealing with multi-class medicine for a long time. Credit cards are increasingly being used instead of e-cards.” He accuses the ÖVP of preventing a solution to the problem by increasing the number of medical school places.
The government announced more counters
The government has announced that it will soon present a package of measures. Before the end of this year, 100 additional positions for health insurance fund doctors must be created. This number is expected to increase to 500 in the coming years and to 800 in 2030.
Additional doctors must relieve hospitals
The overcrowded hospitals need to be relieved with the extra doctors in private practice. Health Minister Johannes Rauch of the Greens is committed to strengthening primary care and improving working conditions for panel doctors.
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.
