Ferenci: “Finding solutions together is always better than mole hunting among the workforce”
Vienna (OTS) – In a shock report in the “Kronen Zeitung” from September 20, 2023, a man was seen huddled on the floor next to his bloodstained bed in the Donaustadt clinic. Now the Medical Association for Vienna is calling for a crisis summit. The aim is a concrete and coordinated package of measures to combat the intolerable conditions in Vienna’s hospitals. We finally have to come together, says Vice President and Chairman of the Curia of Doctors employed by the Medical Association for Vienna, Stefan Ferenci. ++++
Ferenci: “According to the media report, the night shift at Donauspital was severely understaffed when the photo was taken – unfortunately that doesn’t surprise me at all. But what surprises me is the reaction of the city councilor for health, Peter Hacker. I wouldn’t first think about who among the hospital staff took the photo, but rather how we can prevent something like this from happening in the future.”
The cries for help expressed in the “Kronen Zeitung” can be confirmed: “There are hardly any nurses, the doctors that still exist burn out regularly. In the end, the ones who suffer most are patients. A health system financed by solidarity can never afford such horror scenes, especially with certain regularity,” said Ferenci.
And further: “A crisis summit is absolutely necessary. The Vienna Medical Association’s 10-point plan to save Vienna’s hospitals is a perfect guide for this. Immediate measures would include paying salaries in line with the market or a recruitment and repatriation offensive. Of course that costs money. But the alternative is a further burned-out and stretched-out health workforce. Nobody can want that.”
The city of Vienna has been regularly asked to hold talks for months. “We are doing this now with some vigor and hope that we can come together quickly. Finding a common solution is now more urgent than ever,” said Ferenci.
There is no point in repeatedly plugging holes in individual hospitals; it is a structural problem. The fact that such intolerable conditions will continue to exist in the future “is neither in the interest of the patients nor the colleagues in the hospitals nor the city of Vienna.”
Questions & Contact:
Medical Association for Vienna
Benjamin Weiser, MA
+436648238098
weiser@aekwien.at
