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Austria defends unpopular mass-testing scheme after mixed results

Austria on Monday defended its mass coronavirus testing programme despite opposition complaints that less than half the targeted number had been tested so far.

Published: 14 December 2020 17:00 CET
Updated: 14 December 2020 23:17 CET
Austria defends unpopular mass-testing scheme after mixed results
Austrians queue for testing. AFP

The programme has been running over the past two weeks.

Experts and opposition parties have pointed out that only 22 percent of the population have taken part — far short of the 60 percent the government initially said it was aiming for.

“It's a successful step to contain the pandemic in Austria,” Health Minister Rudolf Anschober told a press conference, adding that two million people across the country had participated in the voluntary tests out of a population of 8.8 million.

“In the future, we want to reach groups that have not yet responded positively to the tests. We are reviewing a large number of possible courses of action.Austrian Health Minister Rudolf Anschober. Photo: JOE KLAMAR / AFP

“Without testing, these positive cases would have unknowingly infected other people.”

READ: Mass coronavirus testing begins in more Austrian states 

Anschober said 4,200 cases had been discovered.

In Vienna, just 13.5 percent of residents got tested.

Christian Deutsch of the main opposition Social Democrats (SPOe) said the campaign was “amateurish”, pointing to IT issues that meant some test results had to be recorded with pen and paper, as well as a data breach from the online registration platform.

The “low participation in the mass tests further evidence of the miserable corona management of the turquoise-green government” said Deutsch. 

“Obviously, the population has lost confidence in the government's crisis management due to the turquoise-green management by chaos, poor preparation and poor and contradicting communication.”

The liberal Neos party said the real goal should be to enforce measures such as social distancing and mask-wearing.

A new round of mass testing is set to start around January 8, with media reports that the government is considering offering incentives to citizens to get tested to boost participation.

Like several other countries in the region, Austria escaped the worst of the first wave of the pandemic but has struggled to contain the second wave and had to introduce a second coronavirus lockdown which ended last Monday.

The country has recorded 322,588 infections, of which 4,530 have been fatal.

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HEALTH

Patients in Vienna face long waits for specialist health appointments

Waiting times to get appointments with health specialists in Vienna have increased significantly, a new study has revealed.

Published: 17 May 2024 09:56 CEST
Patients in Vienna face long waits for specialist health appointments

Accessing essential healthcare within a reasonable timeframe is becoming increasingly difficult for Viennese residents.

The Vienna Medical Association presented their new study this week which shows that waiting times for appointments with health specialists have increased significantly in recent years.

The study, which involved contacting over 850 doctors’ practices via so-called “mystery calls,” revealed that child and adolescent psychiatry currently had the longest waiting times in the city.

Patients can expect to wait an average of 90 days for an appointment.

Other specialisations where patients have to wait long to receive help include radiology (57 days), neurology (45 days), ophthalmology (44 days), pulmonology (36 days), internal medicine (33 days), and dermatology (28 days).

The waiting time for seeing a gynaecologist has increased fourfold since 2012, with patients now waiting an average of 32 days.

READ MORE: Why are there fewer public sector doctors in Austria?

No new patients accepted

In certain specialist areas, there is no capacity to accommodate new patients. The situation where no new patients are accepted occurs particularly often in paediatric practices, where more than half of the public healthcare practices have put a freeze on admissions.

In child and adolescent psychiatry, 40 percent do not accept new patients, and among gynaecologists, it is almost a third (30 percent). Family doctors also struggle with welcoming new patients, and many of their practices have already reached full capacity.

The Medical Association calls for immediate action, urging the health insurance sector to become more attractive and receive better funding. This could involve measures to incentivise doctors to work within the public system, potentially reducing wait times and improving patient access to care.

During the study presentation, Johannes Steinhart, president of the association, described the increased waiting times as the result of neglect within the established health insurance sector. He said he believes that the public health system is massively endangered.

Naghme Kamaleyan-Schmied, chairwoman of the Curia of the resident doctors in the association, pointed out that while the population of the federal capital has grown by 16 percent since 2012, the number of public doctors has fallen by 12 percent in the same period.

The association now wants to make the public healthcare system more attractive to doctors, which could cut down waiting times and make it easier for patients to receive care. The association’s demands for this to happen include increasing flexibility in contract options, integrating health and social professions in individual practices, reducing bureaucracy, and improving fees.

ÖGK, Österreichische Gesundheitskasse, Austria’s largest public healthcare fund, is currently creating 100 additional public health positions, with almost two-thirds of the positions already having applicants, as well as planning for another 100 positions. They also aim to create a central telemedicine service and a platform for making appointments by phone and online, which is meant to reduce waiting times and improve access to care.

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