The Medical Association criticizes the Ministry of Health for the expiry of the regulation: “High-risk patients in particular are the ones who suffer from this wrong decision.”
Vienna (OTS) – According to the previous regulation, corona antigen tests for the population in suspected cases were covered as a health insurance benefit and financed by the federal government. The free testing in the ordinations is now about to end because the federal government no longer wants to cover the costs and the Ministry of Health is allowing the corresponding regulation to expire on April 1st: “In suspected cases, testing patients is essential in order to quickly make a diagnosis and thus prevent further infections. Families come together, especially at Easter, and the high level of travel can easily lead to infections with the coronavirus. It is completely unacceptable that the Ministry of Health is stopping free testing on April 1st, Easter Monday. “We are calling on the federal government to give in quickly and for a long-term extension of the free tests in the ordinations,” says Johannes SteinhartPresident of the Vienna and Austrian Medical Associations.
Kamaleyan-Schmied: Risk groups suffer
Those who would suffer most would be high-risk patients. If financing is not secured, they would also have to pay for tests themselves from April 1st in order to be entitled to Paxlovid, for example, since the prescription of this drug is linked to a positive test: “It is extremely important, especially for risk groups, quickly and To get clarity free of charge so that in the event of an infection you can take immediate countermeasures with post-viral medication such as Paxlovid. The expiry of the free corona tests in ordinations would be unacceptable and would bring enormous disadvantages for risk groups. “This is a massively wrong decision in health management,” criticizes Kamaleyan-SchmiedVice President and Chair of the Curia of the Resident Doctors of the Medical Association for Vienna.
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