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Health insurance company Dôvera has made an agreement with representatives of providers on the contract and price terms from April 1^st this year. Agreement applies on Zdravita, Slovak Medical Chamber, Slovak Chamber of Dentists, Association of Hospital in Slovakia and others. According to the largest private health insurance company on the market this is a prerequisite for its contractual relationship with doctors, hospitals and other providers to continue smoothly even after March 31^st, when the current contracts will end.

Private doctors will ask new Government to guarantee their minimum wage of 1.9 times the average wage in national economy. Head of the Association of Private Doctors claims that it is discriminating if the law guarantees the income only to doctors in in-patient health care facilities. According to him the minimum income claim of outpatient care doctors should also be given, as they also provide health care in the frame of public health insurance. 

Outpatient doctors reiterate that increasing of salaries of nurses will cause problems in their sector. According to the President of the Association of Private Doctors after April 1^st, when the Act on minimum wage claims of nurses will enter into force, about quarter of outpatient clinics will get into the loss. They will allegedly have to end up their activity or find another solution. Ministry of Health, according to its spokeswoman, however, believes that cancellation of clinics due to the increasing of salaries of nurses will not happen.  

Increasing of salaries may threaten the operation of large public hospitals or institutions. If they do not get more money from health insurance companies, they will not have money for energies, pharmaceuticals or payments to the Social insurance company. Money from health insurance companies are their largest and often also the only one income. New collective agreement, moreover, orders faculty hospitals associated in the Association of Faculty Hospitals to increase the wages of all healthcare professionals by 5% in April and July.

New collective agreement signed by trade unionists requires hospitals to increase salaries of all healthcare professionals in public hospitals in two phases, from April and from July this year, by 5% of their basic salary. In the case of doctors, nurses and midwives this will be an increasing beyond the recently adopted laws. Association of Faculty Hospitals and Slovak Health Trade Union disagree with this decision.  

Ministry of Health has published new prices of pharmaceuticals, which should be valid from April. Association of suppliers of pharmaceuticals and medical devices is, however, convinced, that this have been done contrary to the law and constitution. Suppliers may still have pharmaceuticals in stock for old prices and now they will have to sell them in the intentions of Ministry. Suppliers of pharmaceuticals are expecting that due to this change their profits will decrease and in this case they are planning to ask for compensatory damages in accordance with the law on liability for damages caused by exercising of public authority.

Marián Kollár is no longer the head of Medical Trade Union. On the actual assembly of the trade union he informed its participants, that he resigns from the post of President and does not intend to continue to contest, as he promised by his re-election last year. Assembly chose Peter Visolajský from Faculty hospital in Nitra as a new President of Medical Trade Union.

Association of Hospitals in Slovakia have made an agreement on the new contracts with health insurance company Dôvera. Their specific form will be developed on further negotiations between insurance company and particular hospitals. Members of Association will also comment on the proposal of the insurance company Union. Proposed increasing of payments, according to the Association, however, covers only the increasing of salaries of doctors from January 1^st. Association will again negotiate with Dôvera on resources for higher salaries of nurses and second phase of increasing of salaries of doctors.

Ministry of Health (MoH) wants to prohibit the advertising of over-the-counter pharmaceuticals. Ministry claims that this measure will save public money, but doctors and suppliers of pharmaceuticals doubt this. They warn that no country in EU have this kind of prohibition. MoH defends this proposal and claims that allowed advertising of the pharmaceutical in smaller package influenced the increased prescribing of the same pharmaceutical in larger package covered by the health insurance company. Pharmacists as well as doctors have doubts about this argument.

In order to their salaries, nurses want to appeal on international courts and doctors want to close their clinics. Political party Smer does not enter into this dispute and refuses to declare, whether it is on the side of Slovak Medical Chamber, which wants to stop the increasing of nurses' salaries, or insists on respecting of the law, which Smer supported in the parliament. Smer wants to supply its statement after creating of new government, thus after April 4^th. Act on increasing of wages of nurses should, however, enter into force on April 1^st.