Opposition rages

Nursing home instead of hospital: uproar over state plans

Rottenmann LKH will be decommissioned when the Liezen lead hospital opens. The main building will then be converted into a nursing home with 100 beds.(Bild: Christian Jauschowetz)

The closure of the Upper Styrian hospital is now a done deal - the subsequent use of the building has the opposition up in arms.

The secret plans uncovered by the "Krone" newspaper for the subsequent use of the Rottenmann hospital have caused a veritable political uproar. One of the associated residential buildings on the site could be used for assisted living and the current remobilization building could be converted into a special "House of Health" with (specialist) doctors' surgeries. A care center with 80 to 100 beds is to start operations in the actual hospital.

Apparently, the aim is to pull the wool over the eyes of the population with superficial ideas ahead of the upcoming elections.

FPÖ-Gesundheitssprecher Marco Triller

Bild: FPÖ Stmk

"A black-red grotesque"
The state government immediately came in for fierce criticism from the united opposition in the state parliament. FPÖ health spokesman Marco Triller sees a "black-red grotesque" and reiterates his party's call for the "preservation and upgrading of existing regional hospital structures". "Establishing a large inpatient facility in the care sector is highly questionable in view of the principle of 'mobile before inpatient' and the mismanagement of demand in recent years," rumbles Green spokesperson Lambert Schönleitner.

Lambert Schönleitner in front of the Leitspital site(Bild: Sepp Pail, Christian Jauschowetz, Krone KREATIV)

KPÖ parliamentary group leader Claudia Klimt-Weithaler appeals to the ÖVP state health councillor: "Mr. Kornhäusl, finally cancel the flagship hospital prestige project and invest the millions in strengthening the existing hospitals instead!"

Neos member Robert Reif echoes this sentiment and calls for "investing in health instead of concrete".