Number of cases on the rise

Children have to wait up to a year for ear surgery

A so-called tympanic effusion - a secretion that collects in the middle ear - can impair hearing.(Bild: Scharinger Daniel)

The answer to a written question from the state parliament shows how long children have to wait for an appointment for a so-called tympanoplasty of the ears: up to a year. However, urgent cases are treated more quickly. In any case, the number of patients affected has risen sharply in recent years.

After her son (7) stopped listening, his mother realized that the boy was not naughty, but simply hard of hearing. He suffers from a so-called tympanic effusion, a secretion that accumulates in the middle ear and impairs hearing. The seven-year-old was given the prospect of an operation to get rid of the annoying fluid after an eleven-month wait - the "Krone" reported on the case.

Several reasons
The SPÖ then enquired about the exact situation in the hospitals with Deputy Governor and Health Officer Christine Haberlander (ÖVP) - now there are answers.

This long waiting time is dramatic for small children and has an impact on language development.

Michael Lindner, Jugendschutzlandesrat und SPÖ-Chef

Bild: Dostal Harald

"The waiting time is around one year", according to the written answer to the question. This is due to a lack of staff, but also to the fact that many appointments are refused or not kept - for example because children are on waiting lists at several hospitals but are not deregistered if they have already been booked elsewhere.

Urgent cases treated more quickly
In addition, the number of tympanoplasty operations shot up after the pandemic, from 1235 in 2021 to 3876 in the previous year. However, urgent cases are treated much more quickly. Two examples: at Ried Hospital within three weeks (normal cases have a waiting time of 20 weeks there), at the Barmherzige Schwestern Linz within twelve weeks (otherwise one year). SPÖ leader Michael Lindner is calling for a guarantee of a surgery appointment within one month.