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HPI
Internet edition of daily Pravda (10/01/2012) evaluated promises of the Ministry of Health that patients will have less expensive pharmaceuticals. Number of pharmaceuticals that are cheaper from the New Year, however, increased only slightly. After last January̍s categorization out of 5 500 pharmaceuticals only cca 50 are cheaper. 32 of them are in the group without patient's co-payment, 18 are in the group of pharmaceuticals with co-payment from € 1 to 2.
Spa treatment will become more expensive for diabetics and for people with high blood pressure as health insurance companies from December stopped the reimbursement of their accommodation and food in spa. This change was brought by amendment to the Act on the scope of healthcare. Mentioned diseases were shifted from group A to group B, in which patient pays him/herself for food and accommodation while the medical treatment is covered by health insurance company. According to the daily SME (10/1/2012) as a result of this change spas expect the decrease of clients.
In the Eye clinic of L. Pasteur University Hospital in Košice new tomography ophthalmology device worth € 63 000 was put into operation. Hospital received it as a gift from the company Novartis through the Union of Blind and Partially Sighted of Slovakia. New device should accelerate the detection of eye diseases caused by damage of retina and optic nerve as well as the treatment of these diseases.
Association for Prevention of Hospital Infections devolved the Annual Prize for 2011 to the Hospital Zvolen. Hospital received the prize as an expression of the valuation of attained progress and effective efforts in the improving of situation. Hospital Zvolen allegedly attained first of all the improvement in the level of sanitary-epidemiological system, experienced the decrease of appearance of resistant strains on the departments and decrease of the consumption of antibiotics. It also reached the decrease of likelihood of patient colonization by microbes.
According to daily Sme from 12/1/2012 paediatricians claim that proposal of Minister of Health Ivan Uhliarik will not solve the problem with mandatory vaccination. If the system will not change, there is a risk that doctors will not have vaccines even from February. According to the President of Association of GPs for Children and Adolescents Kvetoslava Prcúchová doctors are considering strike actions. Doctors stopped vaccinating and since December they are postponing the vaccination-appointments with patients. The reason is the legislative change which obliges them to purchase the vaccines in the pharmacy and subsequently store them. According to the doctors the change resulted in more administration and logistical and financial complications.
According to the internet edition of daily Pravda from 15/12/2011 doctors stopped to vaccinate the patients. They complain the way of reimbursement for vaccines has changed and health insurance companies should reimburse the vaccines directly to doctors. The law, however, does not allow doctors to buy vaccines from any member of the drug chain – that is from producer, the registration holder, distributor, or from the pharmacy. Doctors are also not entitled to collect the surcharges from patients and not all of the vaccines are fully covered by the insurance company. Ministry of Health recommended doctors to purchase vaccines from health insurance company, which will order the vaccines and pay for them.
For now the Medical Trade Union will not call off the strike readiness declared because of the dissatisfaction with the fulfilment of Memorandum. Approved law did not yet enter into force, so doctors want to wait. The head of the Union said that if President Ivan Gašparovič will sign the law and the law will be published in the Collection of Laws, strike readiness will end. The trade unionists also repeatedly called for the resignation of Minister of Health Ivan Uhliarik beacuse of responsibility for the recent development in health care system.
Doctors managed to achieve the higher salaries, cancellation of the transformation of hospitals into joint-stock companies, as well as the changes in Labour Code. Parliament yesterday approved the proposal of the Committee on Health, which should ensure the fulfilment of Memorandum signed between Medical Trade Union and the Government. Parliament firstly approved the proposal of Richard Raši (political party Smer) to cancel the transformation of hospitals and subsequently passed the amendment involving the increasing of salaries of doctors in 2012 and amendment to the Labour Code.
According to daily Pravda from 21/12/2011 small hospitals will probably next year resort themselves to unpopular measures and terminate their contracts with the health insurance companies. Patients are thereby threatened with the fact that they will pay for the treatment by themselves. Hospitals were given into a difficult situation by the doctors' salary increase, which they can not afford. They asked for € 50 million from Ministry of Finance, but Minister of Finance does not want to give it to them yet. Even Minister of Health, who did not negotiate with Minister of Finance yet, does not want to help them. According to Association of Hospitals in Slovakia the only defensive mechanism of hospitals is the terminating of contracts with the health insurance companies.
New way of remuneration of hospitals in Slovakia should be implemented by the German DRG model. German Institute for the payment system in hospitals should help with its development. Health care surveillance authority has concluded the cooperation agreement with this Institute on December the 13th. After signing of contract for three years the works on Slovak version of the DRG system began, especially on classification of diagnosis and medical services. First Slovak versionof DRG should be available by the end of June 2012.
