HPI

In the Ministry of Health, as well as in several departmental organizations the contracts concluded in previous administration are being reviewed. Ministry still does not want to specify its findings, according to its spokeswoman Zuzana Čižmáriková they will be introduced on the press conference. Contracts are being reviewed also for example in the Operation Centre of Emergency Medical service in Slovakia and in state-owned emergency service in Bratislava.

Initiative for awareness of the risks of vaccination claims that doctors are forced to act like denunciators by the vaccination and parents, who have legitimate concerns about the health of their children, are criminalized. According to this Initiative the Office for Personal Data Protection exceeded the level of its competence and is replacing the activities of lawmakers. In the case, if parent refuses to vaccinate his/her child, the threating doctor has to report it to the Regional Public Health Office. Initiative wanted to highlight the illegality and the protection of personal data and required in December last year, to delete this proceeding from the proposed amendment to the Decree of Ministry of Health.

Slovakia will establish the National Transplantation Organization, which will be a coordinating article in all transplantation processes with specific tasks and mandates. Until now the issue of transplantation was handled by Slovak Organ Transplantation Centre, which, however, had no legal personality and was incorporated into the organization structure of Slovak Medical University. To meet the Directive of European Parliament and Council of European Union, Slovakia will transform the center into the separate subsidized organization, as is standard in many european countries.

Due to the increasing number of cord blood donations for own purpose it might seem that the bone marrow and peripheral blood as a source of stem cells have gone forever, but it is not so. Bone marrow and peripheral blood are still considered as a conventional and prime source of stem cells. Their transplantation could save the life by different diseases. The uniqueness of cord blood, on the other side, lies in the fact that its stem cells are usually better tolerated by the patient's immune system.

According to the President of Slovak Chamber of Other Healthcare Professionals the Slovak healthcare system needs a wide legislative change of almost all health care acts. One big law, which would cover all healthcare professionals and which would guarantee their salaries, would not be enough according to her. It is allegedly necessary to solve the financing of the whole system, to cover the wages and all other costs on provided care.

Slovak Chamber of Pharmacists plans to communicate with the Ministry of Health and the legislators on the need for a soon amendment to the Act on pharmaceuticals. Legislation approved by the former Government allegedly implements many non-standard issues, which go in favor of financial groups, and not pharamacists or patients. Representatives of the Chamber submitted their requirements considering the amendment to the Act on pharmaceuticals to the Minister of Health.

Outpatient doctors welcome that resources from € 50 million reserve in state budget will go also to them. According to the President of the Association of Private Doctors, Ladislav Pásztor, all healthcare providers, i.e. hospitals as well as outpatient clinics, should get € 5 million monthly, while € 5.3 million is needed. Private doctors associated in Zdravita and Slovak Medical Chamber already negotiated with General Health Insurance Company (Všeobecná zdravotná poisťovňa). Supposedly this was an initial negotiation on the new contracts, as the current contracts are valid until June 30th, 2012.

Insurance premium will be probably redistributed among health insurance companies according to the new rules, including PCG predictor. The measure, which should bring more money for state General Health Insurance Company (Všeobecná zdravotná poisťovňa, VšZP), was approved for the second reading by 98 votes of members of Parliament. The change of redistribution could bring as much as € 30 million annualy for the state owned health insurance company VšZP. Private insurance company Dôvera would, however, lose almost € 22 million and private Union Health Insurance Company will lose almost € 9 million. If approved, legal standard should enter into force in July this year.

Representatives of healthcare organizations in Slovakia today warned of the danger of increasing black sale of counterfeit pharmaceuticals. As they stressed, by the fake pharmaceuticals it is not possible to talk about the healing effects or quality of preparations. As estimated, 50-90% of pharmaceuticals offered on internet is counterfeit. They are imported to Slovakia especially from China and India. Most of fake pharmaceuticals is getting to consumers via Internet.

Smaller hospitals are establishing their own public pharmacies. Until now the public pharmacies in most hospitals were run by private operators. Hospitals want to use the profits from pharmacies to repay debts or purchase new equipment. Hospital is an ideal place for public pharmacy, as there is a large concentration of clients – patients, as well as their relatives.