Not everyone invited

The health summit sinks into political chaos

SPÖ Health Minister Schumann invited to a summit with all federal states, which does not exist.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Imre Antal, Gesundheit Burgenland)

Joint planning in the health sector? Not a chance! Instead of all nine politically responsible provincial councillors, only two are present at the "health summit" convened after the tragedy in Upper Austria. Five federal states have no representatives at all - and are astonished and angry.

It is a political coordination collapse that is symptomatic of the crisis in the healthcare system. As a first political reaction to the tragedy in Upper Austria revealed by the "Krone" newspaper, SPÖ Health Minister Korinna Schumann held out the prospect of a health summit last week.

"Next week, I will hold a joint meeting with all regional health councillors to discuss how we can improve regional and supra-regional care management and strengthen crisis mechanisms," explained the SPÖ minister. A week later, it turns out that nothing will come of it.

Five countries were not invited (after all)
The only meeting taking place this week is a long-planned meeting of the government health reform group on Friday, which will be attended by ÖVP party leader August Wöginger and representatives of the NEOS, for example - but not, as announced, by all the political leaders of the federal states. Only Upper Austria's ÖVP state councillor Christine Haberlander and Vienna's SPÖ city councillor for health Peter Hacker have been invited and are responsible.

Styria's FPÖ Governor Mario Kunasek and Burgenland's SPÖ Chairman Roland Fürst are high-ranking representatives of the provinces at the round table, but neither of them has primary political responsibility. The other federal states reacted with corresponding anger and surprise. "We were not invited and are surprised," they said in response to several questions. The ministry merely referred to the date on Friday and confirmed that it would (nevertheless) use the date for rapid coordination with the federal states. The invited countries would "stand for all", it added.

Political chaos
To ensure that the demands of other countries are not drowned out, the "Krone" has found out something in advance. And after the political chaos surrounding the summit, it is hardly surprising that there are calls for coordinated planning. Tyrol's ÖVP state councillor Cornelia Hagele, for example, is calling for this specifically with regard to the hospitals in order to "avoid duplication and create synergies". The state of Lower Austria believes that "financing the system from a single source would be a good and important step".