Doctors' Chamber Warns: Healthcare Provision in Vienna Massively Endangered

The Vienna Medical Association sees the health infrastructure in the federal capital on the brink of collapse. Inefficiency, lack of investment, and absence of strategy have caused increasing dissatisfaction among doctors and patients, it was stated on Tuesday during the presentation of the "Health Infrastructure Report 2025". The social, solidarity-financed healthcare system is massively endangered. Regarding the health insurance contract, the chamber is ready to strike.

According to the report, only five percent of the 1,230 doctors surveyed are "very satisfied" with Vienna's health infrastructure. Seven years ago, it was 17 percent. Little time for patients, long waiting times, overcrowded hospital outpatient departments, and the migration of doctors are perceived as the biggest problems. 82 percent attest to Vienna's health policy's lack of strategy, and only 15 percent (down from 44 in 2018) see sufficient investment in this area. The greatest potential for improvement is perceived in the outpatient health insurance sector.

Medical Association Warns: Fewer and Fewer Health Insurance Doctors in Vienna

From the chamber's perspective, the decline in health infrastructure is alarming, especially in relation to the growing population, as report author David Ungar-Klein explained. From 2010 to 2025, Vienna grew by around 20 percent to more than two million inhabitants, while the number of health insurance doctors decreased by 11.75 percent to 1,539. The situation is similar in hospitals: from 2020 to 2025, the number of beds in public hospitals decreased by 6.4 percent, while the population increased by 6.1 percent in the same period.

"It's no longer feasible," said Eduardo Maldonado-González, vice president of the chamber and chairman of the employed doctors' section. "There is no one to take over the patients," he criticized the back-and-forth between the inpatient and outpatient sectors: "The funding dispute is being carried out on the backs of the patients."

Escape from the System

Similarly, his colleague Naghme Kamaleyan-Schmied, chairwoman of the outpatient section and also vice president. People want strong local health insurance medicine, doctors want attractive conditions and fair remuneration without caps. But both patients and doctors are fleeing this system because it no longer works. Medical Association President Johannes Steinhart therefore demanded that doctors be involved in the strategic planning of the healthcare system.

Regarding health insurance negotiations with the Austrian Health Insurance Fund (ÖGK), Kamaleyan-Schmied stated that they are open to discussions, "but if we don't find a solution, a strike would also be necessary". In any case, given the current situation, they are only demanding an inflation adjustment, knowing that they have not concluded as well as other professional groups in recent years. Among the doctors, there are "vulnerable specialist groups that can no longer cope," as she emphasized: "The pressure from colleagues on me is very strong." She is aware that the ÖGK cannot financially handle this. The vice president's demand, therefore: "The federal government must put more money into it."

(APA/Red)

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