Improving care – The doctors’ association wants to continue to have more medicine cabinets

A total of 570 pharmacies are said to be missing in Austria, according to a press conference on Wednesday. The study was conducted by the Kreutzer Fischer & Partner network of consultants, with financial support from the Medical Association. In addition to the number, points of criticism are also the waiting times and limited opening hours of the pharmacies. On-call services are also not a solution because of the greater distances.

Instead, the medicine cabinet doctors’ association advocated for new practices. This operation would provide a doctor in private practice with an additional income of approximately 30,000 euros tax-free and could therefore also be a financial incentive for new practices. However, it’s not about the money at all, but “really first and foremost about caring for the patients,” said Edgar Wutscher, vice president of ÖAK. The system needs to be improved in the interest of patients. Home pharmacies could exist alongside public pharmacies.

Cancellation by the Ministry of Health
The Ministry of Health has already rejected this request. While all suggestions are “welcome”, they should not be driven primarily by increasing one’s own income, said Health Minister Johannes Rauch (Greens). The representatives of the Chamber of Pharmacists spoke of an “incredible” claim. The research is based on incorrect data, incorrect calculations and also confuses key concepts in drug law. Author Kreutzer defended this by saying the numbers came from Statistics Austria.