Wiener Neustadt & Co.

“Secret plan”: Cities want to preserve their hospitals

The state government's cost-cutting plan, which is no longer secret thanks to the "Krone" newspaper, envisages closures in the Weinviertel. Wiener Neustadt is now also concerned about its own hospital.

(Bild: Huber Patrick/P. Huber)

While the SPÖ is now calling for the disclosure of the "secret plans" for the impending hospital closures in Lower Austria at state level, resistance is growing in the towns affected. The "Krone" asked around locally.

With the publication of secret closure plans, the "Krone" once again made an issue of what moves people in Lower Austria. The media response was huge, and after a period of shock, affected doctors working for the state health agency now also explain why this biggest cost-cutting plan in the history of the Second Republic makes perfect sense.

We demand a location guarantee for the hospital in Wiener Neustadt. After all, the construction of a new hospital is currently rather up in the air. There are already shortages of doctors and nursing staff in the country's second largest city.

Rainer Spenger, SPÖ- Vizebürgermeister in Wiener Neustadt

Bild: zVg

Of course, this does not change the anger in the affected cities about the planned closures. The SPÖ in particular is now positioning itself: "Scandalous" is the health pact, which the black-blue state government probably did not want to present until after the local council elections for party tactical reasons, for Wiener Neustadt's Deputy Mayor Rainer Spenger: because the construction of the new hospital in the second largest city in Lower Austria has recently stalled due to environmental concerns, he even fears for the location. "We are demanding a guarantee that our hospital will be preserved in the future," says the Social Democrat.

In Korneuburg, our hospital is an indispensable institution for everyone in the region. Especially at a time when Vienna is upset about patients from Lower Austria, we have to look at local care.

Bernadette Haider-Wittmann,SPÖ-Stadtvize in Korneuburg

Bernadette Haider-Wittmann, a member of parliament from the red party, is also in the same boat. She is the deputy mayor of Korneuburg and therefore particularly affected by the savings plans. According to the secret document, in future only one clinic will be available for those patients who are currently treated in Korneuburg, Stockerau and Hollabrunn. But the Gänserndorf site is also hanging in the balance. The mandatary: "We must not give up the usual security of care, including for injured children, without a fight!"