Decision postponed

Unanswered questions: Styrian outpatient clinics on the back burner?

A new care model for the Styrian healthcare system should have been decided on Thursday - but this was postponed at short notice. Will the Styrian outpatient clinics remain a "marketing stunt", as claimed by the opposition?

A cheap PR stunt or a vision with substance? Governor Christopher Drexler's announcement at the ÖVP's Styria conference in February of this year that he was committed to new "Styrian outpatient clinics" left many unanswered questions.

Opposition sees "marketing stunt"
And not only among political opponents, who rather saw a "half-baked marketing stunt" (quote from Sandra Krautwaschl, Green Party) as a remedy for the ailing healthcare system.

Governor Christopher Drexler and Health Minister Karlheinz Kornhäusl (from left to right, both ÖVP).(Bild: Christian Jauschowetz)

Behind the scenes, there has only been one mission since then: to fill Drexler's announcement with content. This is how the "Med Mobil 1450" was formed. Specifically, on-call services are to be extended from 11 p.m. to 4 a.m. in three test regions (we reported). The cost of the six-month pilot project: around one million euros - according to a previous analysis, there is no need for this.

Yesterday, the internally controversial paper was supposed to pass the health platform quietly and secretly, but the project, hidden under the 14th item on the agenda, was canceled at short notice. So it remains exciting.