“Now it is important to follow up the announcements with action in a timely manner,” he emphasized. The medical associations of Vienna, Lower Austria and Styria have already decided to phase out the mother-child pass at the end of March 2023. According to the professional representation, preparations are underway in the medical associations in Upper Austria and Carinthia. The medical association justifies this by saying that the fees for the mother-child passport examinations have not been increased for 28 years, despite an increased volume of services.
Should such an exit actually occur, the doctors would then no longer offer the examinations listed in the passport as a health insurance benefit. The pass is not only used for preventive health care for pregnant women and small children up to the age of five, the performance of some examinations is also a prerequisite for receiving the childcare allowance in full. The Ministry of Health assured on Friday that the comprehensive reform of the mother-child passport is “already in the final stage”.
“After decades of neglectful treatment of the mother-child passport by politicians and years of unheard cries for help from the medical profession, some state medical associations have decided to withdraw from this excellent project,” Steinhart warned again on Saturday. “Our suggestions for improving the mother-child passport have been on the table for years, for example for the digitization that we support,” recalled Edgar Wutscher, Vice President of the Medical Association and Federal Curia Chairman for resident doctors. After almost three decades, there must be “an adjustment to reality,” demanded Thomas Fiedler, chairman of the federal specialist group for gynecology and obstetrics. “We are now taking the politicians at their word and hope for a quick solution in terms of the health of our children.”
“Should be worth more than three meatballs”
Meanwhile, the Vienna Medical Association came up with a somewhat unusual comparison to clarify the situation: “30 years ago you could still organize a children’s birthday party at McDonalds for a tariff item of the mother-child pass, today I only get three Big Mäc for it. I think But that such an important examination of mothers and their children should be worth more to our state than three meatloafs,” calculated Erik Randall Huber, Vice President of the Medical Association for Vienna and Chairman of the Curia for Resident Doctors, in a broadcast. A massive increase in the existing tariffs is to be seen as an immediate measure that has been overdue for a long time and is absolutely necessary. The fact that the Ministry of Health is now promising a timely solution is to be welcomed, concrete steps must now be taken.
Source: Nachrichten
