Only once a week? – In the nursing home as few visits as in prison

If you want to visit your parents and grandparents in need of care in the home, you need a valid PCR test. From April 1st, however, only five items per month will be free. Relatives fear drastic consequences.

When relatives drop by, it is often the highlight of the day for the residents of old people’s and nursing homes. But soon many could wait in vain for visitors! Because although Vienna allows two visitors a day per resident in the Omicron wave, there is a question mark about how things will continue from April 1st if the free test offer is restricted? To protect the elderly, 2G-plus applies in nursing homes in Vienna , i.e. you can only get vaccinated or recovered plus a PCR test. But from Friday next week, only five free PCR tests per month per person will be available Criminals in ports where even one visit per week is possible. A number of people who want to visit their mothers, fathers and grandparents will not be able to afford the additional costs for tests,” the Floridsdorfer is convinced. Krenn is personally affected. He visits his 84-year-old mother in the Leopoldstadt nursing home three to four times a week. “I speak for many of those affected. It’s often the pensioners who just get the minimum pension and want to visit their last relatives who are denied this opportunity,” he says angrily. “For them, the costs are simply not financially manageable. Quite apart from what the isolation means for the residents.” Ministry promises solution, implementation open The Ministry of Health is trying to calm things down: “The screening programs in vulnerable settings will continue to be funded by the federal government,” it says cryptically. “How this can be logistically designed in the future is being examined together with the federal states. That’s where the responsibility for implementation lies.” The will to enable additional free tests for visitors is certainly there. But how it is to be implemented remains open. This is also the question asked in the office of City Councilor for Health Peter Hacker: “The idea that nursing homes are now also organizing test streets for all the Omikron sick leave stands is bizarre,” they say, “so many questions are open that the federal government has not yet answered could become. Time is running out!”
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