This was announced by the President of the Chamber of Pharmacists, Ulrike Mursch-Edlmayr, in an interview with the APA. That has already been agreed with the Ministry of Health and social security. In the Chamber of Pharmacists, this offer will be approved by the Presidium today, Wednesday afternoon.
The tests are offered in all pharmacies throughout Austria that are currently performing the antigen tests. However, it will not be the gurgle tests currently used primarily in Vienna, but rather crossed-off PCR laboratory tests. For Mursch-Edelmayr, these tests offer the highest sample quality and thus “gold standard”.
These free PCR tests are to be rolled out “in the next few days”, announced the President of the Chamber of Pharmacists. When and where exactly they are offered depends on the regional possibilities. The agreements with the various laboratories in the federal states have yet to be made.
For the insured, nothing will change compared to the antigen tests already offered by pharmacies. After an appointment has been made, the smear is taken in the pharmacy, the result is then sent by SMS or email, or you can pick it up in printed form.
As before for the antigen tests, the financing of the free PCR tests is handled by the social security, which then gets the money from the federal government. Mursch-Edelmayr explained that the IT in the background would not have to be adjusted for this until the next few weeks, but the patients would not notice anything. The president explained that the expense for the pharmacies is very great and that they are working “at the limit of cost recovery”. But it is a “necessary service”. Mursch-Edelmayr assured that the federal government could use the pharmacies’ good infrastructure for comprehensive tests.
