In addition, there are those affected who are not insured with the ÖGK or who are not employed, and many patients are currently not recorded as long-Covid cases at all, but only with their symptoms of the disease. The ÖGK demands rapid help from the federal government. The longest sick leave lasts for more than a year.
Many of the thousands of people who are already affected would not receive adequate treatment due to a lack of therapy places. Competent contact points, functioning treatment paths and a financial security that secures a livelihood are necessary.
ÖGK employee chairman Andreas Huss explained: “Long Covid has many different symptoms that we know from other clinical pictures, but which are now occurring more frequently and together due to the pandemic. This circumstance must be taken into account in care by integrated Care models with multi-professional teams should be set up, to which general practitioners and panellists can refer.”
If long-Covid patients are not treated optimally in good time, they may be out of work for a long time or even permanently. This leads to further complications and existential problems as well as major economic challenges for the welfare state on the labor market and in the care of those affected. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) is an example of how people become unable to work for long periods or entirely.
Huss appealed that the aim must be to avoid chronic disease under all circumstances. There is a need for sufficient therapy offers and a coordinated rehabilitation offer, inpatient and outpatient, with close aftercare.
With a separate long-Covid register in the ELGA electronic health record, all those affected could be recorded, the course of therapy checked and the data made available for research. “In order to create a good database for care, we finally have to create the mandatory diagnostic coding (ICPC-2) in the private sector,” urged Huss. Many long-Covid patients are currently not visible because their doctors do not document the diagnosis.
Another central concern is the recognition of the illness and the subsequent illnesses as occupational diseases and/or as an industrial accident. This must be applied to all professional activities.
Source: Nachrichten
