The Court of Auditors has strongly criticized the authorities’ management of the coronavirus pandemic in the first year of the pandemic. In fact, the report published Friday found a failure: “The federal government had failed to provide the organizational structures and basic staffing requirements necessary in the event of a pandemic,” it says. Duplicate, uncoordinated actions between the federal and state governments and posts filled far too late have been criticized. A new pandemic plan is needed to be prepared for future epidemics.
In summary, the Court of Auditors (RH) states “that the challenges of crisis management in the COVID-19 pandemic are not yet resolved.” The experience gained since the outbreak of the pandemic has been used too little to learn from mistakes, the report says.
In theory, the pandemic management is clearly regulated, the examiners explain: the Minister of Health must coordinate nationwide, the state governors are responsible for the implementation of the regulations and instructions of the ministry through the district administrative authorities. “Yet in the ongoing crisis management, it often remained unclear between the federal and state governments who was responsible for what, who should make which decisions in practice and who should implement them. Therefore, there was duplication of work,” criticized the RH.
Decisions delayed by confusion
There was the federal government’s epidemiological reporting system (EMS), but the states introduced their own system to record infections. As a result, decisions were “often made with delay”, which then necessitated tightened measures that also had to take longer “to develop the necessary protective effect,” says the double track report.
According to the Court, there was also “uncoordinated action” between the Green-led Ministry of Health and the Ministry of the Interior, which was occupied by the ÖVP. Although the Minister of Health and his crisis management team were solely responsible for pandemic management, the Ministry of the Interior, together with the federal states, also collected data on the pandemic situation on a daily basis. However, the key figures published by the Ministry of the Interior differed from those of the Ministry of Health. Another point of criticism was that this made action by the authorities more difficult and undermined the credibility of the measures.
Minister of Health must be more active in leadership
The Court recommends protecting public health across the country. The Minister of Health must play his part actively and better coordinate measures such as vaccinations and tests. “If the measures are not effective, the Minister of Health must intervene and take countermeasures,” the report said.
The Court also notes critically that only an outdated national pandemic plan existed at the time the pandemic broke out and recommends developing a new plan based on past experience with the coronavirus pandemic. This should enable health authorities, health insurers and hospitals to work better together in a new pandemic. In addition, the Ministry of Health is recommended to modernize the epidemic law so that cooperation between authorities is more clearly regulated.
The examiners also identified the release of essential key functions as a problem. The post of Director General of Health, which was abolished under turquoise blue, was not filled until the end of 2020. The Supreme Medical Council was not reappointed until March 2021. In addition to the lack of staff in key specialized departments, this has limited the Ministry of Health’s ability to act, according to the Court of Audit.
Opposition feels confirmed
Following the report, the FPÖ felt confirmed in its criticism of the government. Health spokesman Gerhard Kaniak feared in a broadcast that the government will ignore this report and that the “rumble with senseless and anti-civilian measures” will continue. The NEOS also see their criticism of pandemic management reflected in the report. The coalition of the ÖVP and the Greens “stumbled more blindly from the pandemic than seeing it from the start,” pandemic spokesman Gerald Loacker said in a broadcast. He urged the government to take the Court’s criticism seriously in order to be better prepared in the future.
Source: Krone
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