Too few doctor's surgeries

Every 2nd pediatrician no longer accepts patients

A children's outpatient clinic was opened in Cape 10 in Favoriten. There are particularly few statutory health insurance pediatricians in this district.

(Bild: Kinderambulatorium Cape 10)

The statutory health insurance doctors are completely overcrowded. In child and adolescent psychiatry, people are waiting up to three months for an appointment. The population is growing rapidly, but not the number of places.

Since 2012, the Viennese population has grown by 16 percent, in addition to the influx of families. According to the Medical Association, the entire health insurance system is underfunded, and the existing health insurance places are not enough to cover the actual demand. This is also shown by the development of waiting times, which have doubled to eight days for a check-up appointment in pediatrics and adolescent medicine since 2012.

High capacity utilization
Particularly alarming: more than half of statutory health insurance paediatricians can no longer accept new patients due to the high workload. In child and adolescent psychiatry, the median wait for an appointment is as long as three months.

Many surgeries are already completely overcrowded (symbolic image).

(Bild: PID/Christian Fürthner)

According to the Austrian Medical Association, there are currently 74.5 active practice positions in pediatrics and adolescent medicine, two are vacant and 13.5 positions have been allocated but are not yet active. There are striking differences by district.

Improve needs assessment
"In addition to making the health insurance fund positions more attractive, there is a need for ongoing opportunities to adjust the demand for the required health insurance fund positions," says Naghme Kamaleyan-Schmied, Deputy Head of the Medical Association. The needs assessment for health insurance fund posts would still be based on the 2016 population figures.

More and more whooping cough cases
However, the health service and the Vienna Medical Association are sounding the alarm for another reason. Compared to the previous year, the capital has already recorded 14 times as many cases of whooping cough. In any case, there have been several deaths among children in Europe. Experts therefore advise vaccination. This is even free of charge for children. The problem: the booster is not. Many therefore do without it.

But whooping cough is dangerous for children and can also significantly weaken adults. The Medical Association is therefore calling for free vaccination and testing - including for influenza, RSV and coronavirus. This is because the symptoms are often similar and could prevent the healthcare system from being overloaded during the cold season.