Outrage over plans – Vienna: warning of a reduction in birth capacities

According to the medical association, the plan is to convert the gynecological departments in the Hietzing and Landstraße clinics into so-called outpatient clinics. That means births can no longer take place there, it says. According to the medical association, both clinics are currently responsible for about 2,700 deliveries each year.

“Even with an optimistic calculation, assuming that other clinics such as Floridsdorf or St. Josef Hospital can take over part of these deliveries, according to our estimates there would still be at least between 1000 and 1500 women in Vienna without birth.” beds from 2025,” says Tanaz Modarressy-Onghaie, a specialist in gynecology and obstetrics at the Hietzing Clinic.

Falling and rising birth rate prediction
The basis for the decision to dismantle the birth beds in the Hietzing and Landstrasse clinics is a predicted fall in the birth rate. At the same time, the city’s own statistics department calculates a rising birth rate by 2028, the medical association was surprised to see.

Medical Association Vice pinpoints “political pressure to save”
“I find it irresponsible that there is clearly political austerity pressure being exerted on the backs of pregnant women. Should 1000 women all give birth at home in 2025? In particular, the Covid 19 pandemic should have shown that it is dangerous to reduce storage capacity in hospitals against our better judgment,” criticized Stefan Ferenci, president of the curia for salaried doctors and vice president of the Vienna Medical Association, which criticized the plans.