Vienna Medical Association calls for Steinhart's resignation

2023-09-20 00:04:00

VIENNA. There is no end to the turbulence in the Vienna Medical Association. Four of the five members of the executive committee yesterday called for the resignation of the President of the Vienna Medical Association Johannes Steinhart. This is the only way to prevent further damage.

All three vice presidents – Stefan Ferenci, Erik Randall Huber and Stefan Konrad – as well as finance officer Frederic Tömböl spoke out in favor of Steinhart’s removal from the five-member committee. The reason is the events surrounding an extraordinary meeting of the Curia of resident doctors last Friday, where, among other things, scuffles are said to have occurred.

Chamber President Steinhart reported that Huber’s bias had been expressed at the meeting in question. Six groups were in favor of doing this. After Huber refused to acknowledge the result of the vote, the representatives of these six factions were forced to change rooms.

Meeting escalated

The other side sees it fundamentally differently. Huber reported that an attempt was made to take away his leadership of the meeting using “brute force,” and one representative physically attacked another. 16 mandataries then left the meeting and the chairman closed it due to a lack of quorum.

Ferenci called on Steinhart to resign on Monday: Steinhart had allowed the events to take place and thus “left the path of the democratic path and used methods that are more reminiscent of a coup.”

Steinhart rejected all calls to resign. He was democratically elected President of the Vienna and Austrian Medical Associations. Formally, he could be removed from office by means of a motion of no confidence from the general assembly.

The background to the turbulence is likely to be, among other things, the allegations brought to light by Huber regarding the procurement platform Equip4Ordi (E4O). The public prosecutor’s office is investigating suspicions of infidelity. Steinhart is listed as the accused, but he rejected all allegations.