Corona: Austria loses another health minister - due to overwork

Created: 03/04/2022, 06:58

By: Bedrettin Bölükbasi

Austrian Health Minister Wolfgang Mückstein has resigned.

© Georges Schneider/imago

Corona gets on your nerves - even for those who take responsibility.

Austria's Health Minister Mückstein has now announced his resignation due to revision.

Munich – The world has been struggling with the corona pandemic for a little over two years.

Some countries in Europe have been hit particularly hard by the pandemic.

Austria was also one of these countries.

The critical corona situation in the country put a strain on both citizens and health workers.

But not only them: In Austria, the second health minister has thrown in the towel since the beginning of the corona pandemic due to being overworked.

Wolfgang Mückstein (Greens) announced his resignation on Thursday

- less than a year after moving from his doctor's office in Vienna to top politics.

Corona in Austria: Mückstein announces resignation due to revision - "you can't last long"

In the past few weeks, the 47-year-old minister said in his justification that he was no longer able to perform 100 percent of the necessary work every day.

In addition, he was constantly exposed to threats and needed police protection, said the politician, without specifically mentioning radical opponents of corona measures.

"You don't want that for long and you can't stand it for long," he added.

The burden on him and his family was "extreme".

Mückstein's predecessor and party colleague Rudolf Anschober had given up last April due to overwork.

The then 60-year-old had given exhaustion in connection with the corona pandemic as a reason.

Among other things, he had two circulatory collapses in the weeks before his resignation.

Corona in Austria: Mückstein resigns - the new Minister of Health has apparently already been chosen

In the past few weeks, Mückstein has been confronted with increasingly negative media reports, which, among other things, addressed his wooden demeanor and his sometimes contradictory statements.

It is by no means easy to assume the post of Minister of Health and thus maximum responsibility for difficult decisions in such a delicate phase.

This can easily lead to burnout, as happened with Mückstein.

Serious effects on mental and physical health are the consequences and can also last for many years.

There had already been reports of a possible withdrawal by Mückstein on Thursday morning.

According to the APA news agency, Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) said at noon that if Mückstein resigned, there would be a “quick handover”.

Green leader and Vice Chancellor Werner Kogler announced that he would propose regional politician Johannes Rauch as the new Minister of Health.

Rauch is responsible for the environment and transport in the state government of Vorarlberg.