After more than a year of the corona pandemic, there are a few options in Austria to have a corona test carried out free of charge. In the federal state of Salzburg, in addition to pre-registering for the test, you must also bring an e-card. So you need active health insurance coverage, which not everyone has, despite legal requirements.
27,000 people without insurance
How many people are affected cannot be precisely determined. It is estimated that there are around 27,000 people without health insurance in the whole of Austria, as an analysis commissioned by the Main Association of Austrian Social Insurance Institutions in 2017 showed. There are many reasons for not having health insurance. Loss of job without entitlement to unemployment benefits can, for example, mean that people are not compulsorily insured. If no private insurance is taken out, you have no insurance cover. A missing residence permit or problems with the asylum procedure are also given by those affected as reasons. For these people there is the possibility in the city of Salzburg to be tested for Covid-19 by the volunteer helpers of the Virgilbus.
“Ambulance” in the Franziskus house
After having to pause in March 2020 due to the corona pandemic, the aid project started again on November 1, 2020, like the Maltese Salzburg announced. For safety reasons, however, the ambulance does not tour the city as usual, as the minimum distance cannot be maintained on the bus. Instead, a kind of ambulance was set up. For a while, the premises of the Catholic Students’ Union could be used for this purpose, since the beginning of the month people seeking help have been received in the Franziskus emergency shelter in Anton-Graf-Straße.
Initiative also carries out corona tests
There, every client is subjected to a rapid corona test before an examination, but tests without a planned treatment by the volunteer doctors are also possible. The tests required for this and the specialist staff for the tests are provided free of charge to the Virgilbus project by the biotechnology company Novogenia. As a spokesman for Sebastian Huber, the initiator of the Virgilbus, announced, the offer was “very well received”. Around 30 corona tests are carried out per service, he says.
Low-threshold medical assistance
With the exception of the eight-month compulsory break caused by corona, the Virgilbus has been on the road every Sunday evening in the city area since 2014 and offers low-threshold medical help for the homeless, emergency travelers and other uninsured people. This is made possible by the cooperation between the Red Cross, the Samaritan Association and the Maltese and their paramedics and volunteer doctors. Organizational and administrative support for the project is provided by Diakoniewerk Salzburg and Caritas. Required medication is provided free of charge by the Salzburg Chamber of Pharmacists. In 2019, over 840 treatments were carried out, according to the 2019 activity report.
(Source: SALZBURG24)
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