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News
Still more and more people in Slovakia are undergoing the surgery operations in the frame of one-day surgery. Compared to 2009, in 2010 it was made more often in most of the departments. Currently the one-day surgery is being provided in 1 183 places. Most accessible one-day surgery is in Košice region, where it is being carried out in 299 places. In Bratislava region there are 191 such places and 158 are in Trenčín region. The least possibilities of one-day surgery are in Trnava region.
Association of Hospitals in Slovakia has adopted the proposals of Všeobecná zdravotná poisťovňa (General Health Insurance Company) and health insurance company Union for the adjustment of contracts from the beginning of April this year. Association has recommended its members to sign the amendments to the contracts with the state insurance company if the submitted proposal will be in the intentions of agreed adjustments. In case of insurance company Union, members should sign the amendments, if the offered increasing of prices will be reflected in the increased amount. Adjustments of contracts should help hospitals to cover the increasing of salaries of healthcare professionals set by the law.
Increasing of salaries of nurses in accordance with the new legislative can not, according to the Ministry of Health, threaten the operation of outpatient clinics. This opinion was expressed by MoH in the letter addressed to the dissatisfied private doctors, who worry about their existence. Statement of MoH resulted from the analysis of their costs and revenues, which was based on the data from National Health Information Centre.
Ministry of Health announced a public invitation for receiving the grant support for the scientific research projects. Support should be in accordance with the intentions of Ministry of Health as well as with the recommendations of European Commission. Although applications should be submitted by the end of May this year, funds will not be available so soon. Given that Ministry of Health does not have funds for implementation of projects in the financial year 2012, subsidy may be provided in the financial year 2013.
Medical rescuers will communicate through the walkie-talkie and therefore they will not rely on the cellular networks. This resulted from the agreement signed between the Director of Operational Medical Emergency Service Centre and the Ministry of Home Affairs. Walkie-talkies should be installed to the ambulances of medical rescue service as well as to the Regional Operational Medical Emergency Service Centres in the forthcoming weeks. Rescuers should this way avoid the dropouts of the cellular networks.
Association of Hospitals in Slovakia, which associates dozens of regional hospitals, for now did not make an agreement with private health insurance company Union on the adjustment of pricing conditions from April. Insurance company Union submitted the offer, which Association refused as inconvenient. Reportedly it does not consider the increased costs on the adjustment of salaries of doctors, neither the adjustment of salaries of nurses.
After Slovak Medical Chamber also company Nemocničná, a.s., which is the owner of hospital in Malacky, is considering the legal attack of the Act on minimum wage claims of nurses. It does not have money to fulfil the law effective from April the 1st. Hospital therefore offered nurses the solution that would divide their duty between the health care part and administrative part. Nurses, however, refused this offer.
Nurses in the hospital in Žiar nad Hronom, under the threat of dismissal, are signing the amendments to the contracts, which divides their duty between the nurse and administrative officer. This way hospital wants to circumvent the law which increases their salaries. According to the President of Slovak Chamber of Nurses and Midwives the amendments to the contracts are a violation of law in providing of health care, restriction of their profession and also a threat of the safety of patients.
Hospitals of the Trnava self-governing region will respect the law and will increase the wages of nurses from April 1st. This will require in each of three regional hospitals in this year approximately € 1.5 million, together with increasing of salaries of doctors. According to the head of the region Tibor Mikuš this increasing can not be compensated with any measures in management, because the wage and payroll payments cost about 80% of hospital revenues. Increasing of salaries will, according to him, goes at the expense of indebtedness of hospitals.
Všeobecná zdravotná poisťovňa – VšZP (General Health Insurance Company) offered Association of Hospitals in Slovakia another increasing of payments. These payments should increase in the beginning of April this year and should help hospitals to cover the increasing of wages of nurses. Association should announce the final statement to the proposal until Thursday. General Health Insurance Company already increased the payments for hospitals in December last year and in February this year.
