Vamed sale: Protest action by vida, ÖGK and staff

The Austrian Health Insurance Fund (ÖGK) and the Vamed workforce are mobilizing against the planned sale of the Vamed rehabilitation clinics to the French financial investor PAI. The concern is that the burden on employees will increase and services for taxpayers will become more expensive, said ÖGK chairman Andreas Huss at a public works meeting on Tuesday in front of the Anton Proksch Institute in Vienna.

Huss called for a non-profit solution in Austrian hands. The PAI investment fund has no affinity for health care and wants to sell again at a profit after a few years, Huss criticized. These profits can only be achieved by putting pressure on employees or deteriorating quality. The ÖGK chairman sees the even greater danger in the fact that more expensive services are provided that are not necessary at all, as has been shown by PAI holdings in retirement homes in Germany. "And taxpayers in Austria are supposed to finance profits of investors in France in this way," Huss criticized.

Proposed solution for special facilities

The ÖGK chairman therefore calls for a non-profit solution and that health facilities are kept in Austrian hands. Huss envisages that facilities with unique selling points such as the Anton Proksch Institute for Addiction Treatment or the Children's Rehabilitation Centre in St. Veit im Pongau will be taken over by the federal states, social insurance and states jointly or by non-profit companies.

Employees' fears

There is a great deal of uncertainty among the workforce, reported Vamed works council chairman Harald Steer to the several dozen employees and union representatives. There are fears of staff reductions and an increase in pressure on employees. If the takeover cannot be prevented, the works council is at least demanding written guarantees to prevent savings and staff cuts.

Background Vamed sale

The domestic hospital operator and healthcare provider Vamed was filleted by the majority owner Fresenius in the spring and divided into different companies. In the course of the break-up, the private equity company PAI is to take over 67 percent of the Vamed rehabilitation business. The remaining 33 percent will remain with Fresenius. The division comprises 67 facilities with 9,100 beds and around 9,500 employees in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Czech Republic and the United Kingdom. In Austria, according to the trade union vida, 3,500 employees in 21 facilities are part of the package. Among them is the Anton Proksch Institute on the outskirts of Vienna, which is 60 percent owned by Vamed and 40 percent owned by a foundation.