Amendment to the MTD Act must reflect the actual competences of the professional group.

Since 2006, members of the MTD professions have been trained at universities of applied sciences within the framework of scientifically based studies. The MTD Act dates back to 1992 and is no longer up to date. We need a law that meets the requirements of the present and the future. The graduates, today's MTD professionals, act on their own responsibility and have the competence and awareness to carry out their tasks independently. They also have a key role to play in prevention and in providing health counselling to the population. It is time to recognise this reality and adapt the MTD Act accordingly without delay.

"Swift action is required here to ensure the attractiveness of the profession and to provide our graduates with good opportunities for further development. Only a modern, up-to-date job profile can prevent an increase in the existing supply shortage," says FHK President Ulrike Prommer on the occasion of the planned amendment of the MTD job profile.

The Austrian University of Applied Sciences Conference (FHK) is calling for a contemporary MTD job profile that reflects the qualification profile of the university degree in line with international standards. In order for the job profile to be attractive for our future students and for us to be able to attract and inspire even more interested people to study, we also need clear legal perspectives for professional development. The new law must therefore designate Master's programmes that follow on from the Bachelor's programme and whose completion is associated with an expansion of the MTD area of expertise. This will relieve the burden on the healthcare system and enable healthcare services to be provided to the population more quickly and efficiently.

"The professional associations, the FHK and all other affected groups were involved in the development process of the currently planned amendment on the part of the Ministry of Health. A broad, viable consensus was reached on many of the points mentioned. This should now be maintained and the law, as originally agreed, should be released for review," concludes Prommer.