Punch of the week

Lorenz Böhler out: And behind me the deluge

(Bild: Tomschi Peter)

Hundreds of surgeries are shaky, employees are insecure - the closure of the Lorenz Böhler Hospital in Vienna is a disaster. Who has earned this week's Punch of the Week. 

Normally we try to elicit a smile from our readers here once a week - today we have to apologize, because it's not going to be funny. Instead, we have a whole parade of Punch and Judy: namely those (un)responsible for the Lorenz Böhler Hospital. With all the drastic consequences of the closure for Vienna's healthcare system: hundreds of operations that are now shaky and unsettled employees who don't know what will happen next.

First and foremost, AUVA Director General Alexander Bernart, who is available for "Happy Peppi" appointments, for example when he invites people to an open day at the Häring Rehabilitation Center. He had the closed-door days at Lorenz Böhler announced at 5.39 p.m. on Wednesday via a whispered announcement. One minute after this, by the way: "Wöginger: Austria's care and healthcare system is world class."

The patients are the ones who suffer(Bild: zVg)

The sudden closure also broke agreements with the city. As reported, City Councillor for Health Peter Hacker was outraged. The approach was "unacceptable": "You can't just cancel operations and send people into the desert."

Hospital in a space/time wrinkle
"The building, which is over 50 years old, requires structural and fire protection measures that cannot be implemented in the short term or during ongoing operations," says the AUVA. And so, for better or worse, the hospital has to stand in a space/time wrinkle, because there is no other explanation for the fact that the Lorenz Böhler - unnoticed for years - has become a renovation case virtually overnight. The hospital management itself is also unlikely to be named communicator of the year 2024 for the way it treats its employees. The victims of the "behind me, the deluge" mentality: patients and employees.