HPI

Nurses will see money from government reserve on their payrolls at earliest in the autumn. According to the President of the Association of Hospitals in Slovakia, Marián Petko, the amount is sufficient, but hospitals will get money not sooner than in September. Many hospitals promised their nurses the increasing of wages from € 640 to € 926 monthly already in July. Petko, however, doubts this promise. Minister needs for transfer of the reserve the approval of Parliament, which will get to the negotiation on the change of legislation in June. Afterwards she needs a signature of President Ivan Gašparovič.

This week will nurses and midwives get for the first time the wage according to the act, which guarantees its increasing. Hospitals are getting in crisis situations, some of them are talking about the end of departments. Management of hospital in Bojnice guarantees its staff the increasing of salaries according the current legislation. This applies also on 310 nurses and 29 midwives working in hospital. According to the director after increasing of salaries of doctors and current increasing of wages of nurses it is possible to keep the running of hospital under current conditions until the end of June.

After the scandal with selling of blood plasma from Slovakia another one appeared with the export of human tissues. In both cases, not domestic patients, but foreign purchasers received the preference. Part of tissues collected in Slovakia ended in Germany, where they were exported by the private company Tissue Research Institute. The permission for taking and the contract on cooperation with the Healthcare Surveillance Authority was given to company in March 2009. In April this year Authority terminated the contract on cooperation for the breaching of main condition that taken tissues will be used primarily in Slovakia.

Three candidates are applying for the post of the head of Slovak Medical Chamber. Chamber should decide on new President for electoral term 2012 – 2016 on its upcoming assembly. For the position of the President of Chamber was nominated the Vice President of the Chamber Mária Kuniaková, former President of Medical Trade Union Marian Kollár and the Council member of the Chamber Peter Olajoš. Assembly should take place at the beginning of June in Žilina.

Health insurance companies gave last year for their operation less money than in 2010. Všeobecná zdravotná poisťovňa (General Health Insurance Company) spent on its operation almost € 66 million by the number of policyholders about 3.4 million, what is a € 11 million less than year before. Dôvera had 1.4 milion of clients and for its operation needed € 31 million. Costs increased in Union Health Insurance Company, which spent more than € 10 million. With the number of 400 000 policyholders this insurance company is the smallest one.

Completion of wide Bratislava hospital complex Rázsochy is according to member of Parliament for SDKÚ-DS, Viliam Novotný, inefficient and means defenestration of € 500 million in the situation when healthcare system desperately needs the resources. He admitted that Bratislava hospitals are serving out and it will be necessary to replace them. But he also added that for € 500 million, what are the costs on the completion of hospital Rázsochy it will be possible to build 8 new hospitals. According to Novotný this project will only fill the pockets of sponsors of Smer-SD.

Slovak Chamber of Nurses and Midwives is in open letter asking the Minister of Health Zuzana Zvolenská and Minister of Labour Ján Richter to enable the nurses in social services institutions to provide health care again. Departmental bosses should according to them implement into the legislation the adjustment allowing social services institutions on the base of permit and license to become the providers of health care. Nurses argue that there are mostly old people with medical problems in nursing homes who need the health care.

Private doctors do not want to send the documents on issued sick-calls to Social Insurance Company electronicaly, but prefer traditional mail. They claim that they will fill in the formulares through internet only in case if the social insurance company pay them for it. Workers of Social Insurance Company are transcribing the documents from doctors into the computers manually for now. From begining of May the Social Insurance Company started the operation of electronical transmission of documents. Only small number of doctors expressed the interest in this form. For example in Trenčín region there are only 10% of them.

In the hospital in Humenné the reconstructed facilities of reception and outpatient part of children's department was today put into operation. Costs of building project reached an amount of € 15 000. Reconstruction of the children's department was one of this year's investment priorities in the facilities of hospital. Hospital in Humenné belongs to the company Svet zdravia, which proceeds in this year's reconstruction of a network of hospitals that are managed under the terms defined in its investment plan.

Slovak mothers are dissatisfied with the acting of maternal clinics right after the childbirth. This resulted from the evaluation through the internet guide of Slovak maternal clinics, on which already 3 650 mothers has participated. As the best was assessed the trust in expertness of medical team during the childbirth. Equally high mothers evaluated also the possibility to have accompanying person at the childbirth and do not undermine the equipment of the delivery rooms. Worst marks were given to maternal clinics for the support of early contact between mother and baby immediately after birth.