Our colleagues from RTL talked to Dr Turk about the current challenges for the hospital federation. He underlined that workers in the health care sector are at the front lines of the pandemic and have to experience the most severe consequences on a daily basis. At the same time, the FHL president acknowledged the level of solidarity here in the country.
At the moment, more than 70% of employees in the sector have been vaccinated, a number which Dr Turk still expects to grow. Those who have not yet received a jab have to do three rapid tests per week.
When asked about staff shortages in the sector, Dr Turk noted that these were already problematic prior to the pandemic: "I think it is clear that training for care workers and nurses needs to be reformed urgently. The programme is still based on a 25-year-old law and no longer reflects the reality of the job."
The popularity of health care jobs has declined over the past ten to twenty years. The main incentive seem to be the relatively high salaries, which attract a lot of cross-border workers. They currently make up 60 to 65% of the work force.
Dr Turk also discussed the rise of the Covid delta variant with our colleagues from RTL. He believes the most important thing is that all vulnerable people get vaccinated, because this will significantly reduce pressure on the hospital sector, even if the virus is circulating much more again: "The hospital sector is not expecting catastrophic implications from the delta variant over the coming weeks."
