SOS Children's Villages warns of a lack of cash register pediatricians

According to information at a protest action by SOS Children's Villages in Innsbruck on Friday, there are only 300 public health insurance pediatricians nationwide in Austria, who are supposed to care for about 1.8 million children and adolescents. Additionally, one sometimes has to "wait months for psychotherapy places," criticized Christian Rudisch, the managing director of SOS Children's Villages.

SOS Children's Villages Calls for Emergency Plan Against Lack of Public Health Insurance Pediatricians

The fact that children and adolescents have to wait for urgently needed care proves that this only "functions inadequately" in Austria, said Rudisch. "If healthcare also becomes a question of money, then that is a sign of structural disturbances in the system," explained the managing director during the media event. An oversized band-aid was placed in front of the "Golden Roof" to draw attention to the nationwide grievances identified by SOS Children's Villages.

To eliminate these grievances, a "rapid emergency plan from the responsible parties" is now needed, emphasized Rudisch, who is also a psychoanalyst, highlighting the urgency of the current situation. "We absolutely need more publicly funded pediatrician places," said the managing director. This issue is particularly pressing in "regional peripheral areas": "There are no places available at all in some areas." For example, in Tyrol, there are currently only 23 public health insurance pediatricians, of whom "40 percent are not accepting any more children," he described the precarious situation.

Public Health Insurance Pediatricians: "Low-Threshold Offers" and "Best Possible Ideas" Demanded

The guiding principle must be "quick, child-friendly, and free of charge," emphasized Rudisch. There must be significantly more "low-threshold offers" that take into account the needs of children and adolescents: "Children and young people are ultimately the most vulnerable population, who are sometimes overlooked and have no voice." It is precisely for this reason that it is so reprehensible that they often become a "plaything between the federal government, states, and chambers" regarding their rights to adequate healthcare, the managing director sharply criticized.

Close coordination among these actors would be important, added Rudisch, and demanded: "The federal government, states, chambers, and social insurance carriers should finally sit down together and deliver the best possible ideas." To promote this exchange, once 10,000 petition signatures are reached, they will be handed over to the political decision-makers, Rudisch announced. Further nationwide "band-aid actions" in other state capitals are also "in planning."

(APA/Red)

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