In a night-and-fog campaign, the AUVA announced that the Lorenz-Böhler accident hospital in Vienna. A concentrated attack on Viennese accident care is hidden behind obvious lies. The employees are on strike - especially the city government tries to exploit this for their purposes.
After the spokesman for the general accident insurance institution had made nebulous allusions for four days, they let the bomb go up on Monday, March 4: the Lorenz-Böhler accident hospital had to be closed immediately due to construction damage. On the same day, all planned operations were suspended and the operating rooms began to remove the operating rooms. The damage - it was said - is too heavy to repair them while operating. Certainly there are construction defects in the hospital. But is the closure justified? The accident spokesman for the medical association Heinz Brenner finds clear words: " This is cleverly communicated by those responsible, to pretend that everything should go quickly, quickly. In reality, the need to do something structurally has been known for ten years. It is precisely these directors who have decided that for ten years that something has to be done. You didn't do it for ten years. … Since July 2023, the construction police's request has been presented to present a renovation plan. There was no renovation plan until 28.2.2024. I conclude from this: You don't want to renovate the Lorenz Böhler. The construction police wrote to the AUVA that the Lorenz-Böhler can be renovated while operating. ... that means nothing has to be locked, we do not have to close, but can work because according to the construction police can be renovated in parallel. The Auva doesn't want it " It is therefore not legally necessary to lock the hospital at all. It is obviously a shame, a flimsy lie with which the closure of the Lorenz Böhler is to be presented as a "construction measure", and not as what it is: an attack on the accident supply for the population!
The AUVA's night-and-fog campaign created a large chaos. It is clear, however, that the closure will have serious consequences for accident care across Vienna. The Lorenz-Böhler carries out 5,000 operations annually and supplies 65,000 patients outpatient. The AUVA said that these patients should now be cared for in other hospitals. It is clear that this cannot work, just when it comes to accident recordings. All other departments, whether in the AKH, in the UKH Meidling, in the Danube Hospital, in the Floridsdorf Clinic or in Ottakring, are already overloaded, in Ottakring the conditions are similar to the emergency department, which has only strike in summer. On the part of the Medical University and the AKH, where some of the teams will probably walk from the Böhler, one hears that the additional rescue races cannot be bumped into.
It would be naive to think that the decision -makers in the AUVA do not know the situation. Finally, in 2021, when they already indicated the closure of the accident hospital, they justified that it justified "There is only a little seriously injured" , and "There is no need." An absurd argument! An accident is just making it out to be predicted! What about a major damage event? In such a case, a big city with around two million inhabitants would be the accident supply on the ground. But with this argument, 400 acute beds were painted at the time, the shock room in the Böhler was closed. Today it will be seen that it was a closure on the rates. The AUVA is now charging the last rate, in full knowledge of the consequences for the population.
Several additional billions are currently being invested in the healthcare system. At the same time, the accident supply is reduced by all of this, which continues as a "quick repair" of the goods. The supply centers are being closed, which is the biggest cost points for the AUVA, which is financed from employer contributions. So this expensive conversion is completely against the workers and the people, you can now see that at the Lorenz Böhler!
Social democracy uses the favor of the hour to make mood against the Auva, which, as everyone knows, is dominated by ÖVP. SP chairman Babler speaks of "Politics for ÖVP-Großpender" and calls for the "Ensure supply in the event of illness" . But what about the lack of staff in the North Hospital, because of which the employees have already filed a complaint twice? What about the strike in Ottakring? Already in the Vienna election campaign 2020, the SPÖ tried to score mobilization for the Lorenz Böhler. As then, after long negotiations, the beds and stations were deleted by the SP district leader of a " Clear decision to continue the Lorenz Böhler Hospital ”- And that was the "resistance" of the Vienna government again! The "protest parties" also coordinated this choir. We see the consequences of all of this today.
The employees in Lorenz Böhler are now striking. It is the right answer to fight back and fight. It would be completely wrong to hope that "will be locked up again", which is obviously not the plan. But the fighting of the employees must be managed independently, especially by the Vienna city government. It must not be sacrificed again for campaign mobilization or negotiations, in which the closure is delayed at best. The struggle must be kept for a healthcare system in the service of the people and not for the interests of one or the other faction of the rulers!