The ‘Krone’ report leads to discussions about a supply or location guarantee and joint hospital planning for the eastern region.
It was a ‘Krone’ report that exposed previously secret plans by experts to close hospitals in parts of Lower Austria – causing a stir beyond the borders of the largest state. Styrian SPÖ mandate Mario Lindner said the proposed clear-cutting would also have “huge consequences” on the supply situation in Styria. Many people in Upper Styria and especially in the Liezen district depend on Lower Austrian hospitals. The same applies to the federal capital.
“Each federal state is responsible for the care of its residents,” says Peter Hacker, SPÖ councilor for public health in Vienna. He heard from the “Krone” about the plans of his Lower Austrian neighbors – but to a certain extent he is already “involved in the subject”. Only at the end of September did he – as reported – call for an upper limit for surgical tourists in Vienna’s hospitals. One in five patients in the hospitals of the federal capital does not have their main residence there. This caused a stir in Lower Austria, but also in SPÖ-ruled Burgenland. Now Hacker wants to revive old solutions.
The state of Lower Austria rejects joint clinical planning
Some time ago he proposed joint hospital planning for the eastern region (Vienna, Lower Austria and Northern Burgenland). However, according to Hacker, the response to this was “final or non-existent”. And the latest revelations probably haven’t changed that. “The future of the hospital landscape in Lower Austria is a topic that we discuss in Lower Austria – and not in Vienna,” says Ludwig Schleritzko (ÖVP), the regional councilor responsible for hospitals in Lower Austria. The supra-regional offer is already available and is financially compensated by the financial equalization.
Nevertheless, even across the country, opinions vary widely on how health care should be restructured. The SPÖ leader of Lower Austria, Sven Hergovich, sharply criticized the plans that had become known and demanded a location guarantee for all state clinics.
Dispute about delivery or location guarantee
Dr. sees it differently. Herbert Frank, chairman of the Medical Council – and himself a member of the 50-member committee of experts in which the secret document was drawn up. “We need to move from a location guarantee to a delivery guarantee,” he explains. In any case, the Ministry of Health knew nothing about the revealed expert plans. The ministry “is not aware of any information about the said plans”. In principle, however, in certain cases it makes sense to combine departments and set up specialized clinics.
But the fact is: there is also room for improvement in the healthcare sector from a budgetary perspective. In the expenditure areas of the state budget, only 3.2 percent is reserved for health care, but 12.8 percent is reserved for civil servants’ pensions, for example.
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.
