—
News
According to Minister of Finance Ivan Mikloš the European Union could consider the bailout of hospitals as an unauthorized state aid. Therefore he has decided to reclassify the financial resources assigned for hospitals into a loan. According to him the bailout will de facto not occur, only the creditors will change. Since the loan was provided by state, state will become the creditor. Hospitals will continue to have obligations, but these will be obligations to the state. Minister of Health Ivan Uhliarik, however, insists on the bailout and plans to inform about its necessity on the next session of government.
Ministry of Health and Všeobecná zdravotná poisťovňa came up with new tactics. They are beginning to offer money to those hospitals, which will ensure, that their doctors will withdraw the notices. Všeobecná zdravotná poisťovňa has offered to add money to dozens of non-state hospitals, although most of notices were registered in large university and faculty hospitals. By signing of the amendments hospitals will be committed to ensure the health care for patients in the full range even after December 1st. Všeobecná zdravotná poisťovňa believes that this will also help to partially solve the salaries of doctors in hospitals.
If doctors do not withdraw their notices, the availability of health care will be deteriorated. Minister of Health Ivan Uhliarik wants to handle this situation so that after December 1st several departments of large hospitals will operate in weekend mode. President of Medical trade unions Marián Kollár, however, argues that neither this kind of regime will be possible. For example, gynaecological departments will allegedly not have doctors, because they have, according to Labour code, already met their number of services. Minister of Health and Medical trade unionis are still unable to agree on the wage increases and the transformation of hospitals into joint-stock companies.
According to daily SME from 12/11/2011 three firms that own health insurance companies and could not make a profit from them, are asking the state for over € 900 million. Act, which prohibited health insurance companies to make a profit, was drafted by the Ministry of Health in the past. This year the Constitutional Court ruled that such prohibition was unconstitutional. Parliamentarians therefore authorized the disbursement. Financial group Penta, which controls the health insurance company Dôvera, is asking the state for the highest amount – € 750 million. Shareholders of defunct Európska zdravotná poisťovňa are requiring more than € 30 million and Austrian shareholder of former health insurance company Apollo is asking for more than € 131 million.
Slovak Chamber of Pharmacists does not like the new Act on Pharmaceuticals and wants to change it before it comes into force. As the fundamental problem pharmacists consider the legalization of pharmacy networks, introduction of loyalty schemes or the reduction of powers of a professional pharmacists in the exercise of his/her profession. According to the President of Slovak Chamber of Pharmacists introduction of loyalty schemes will support the marketing business activities in the loyalty pharmacies. Representatives of Slovak Chamber of Pharmacists are planning to meet the Parliamentarians and explain them the real consequences of this Act on the pharmaceutical system.
Hospitals will probably not have to meet the minimum requirements for the material and technical equipment by the end of this year as it is specified in the Decree of the Ministry of Health. According to the Ministry of Health some healthcare providers are actually not able to meet these requirements and so Ministry of Health has decided to give them more time, till the end of 2012. Decree provides, inter alia, the compulsory instrumentation, material and pharmaceutical equipment of the outpatient care and hospitals, but also the number of patients per doctor or nurse in the day or night service.
Dozens of doctors from hospitals in eastern Slovakia participated in the meeting organized by the Medical trade unions, where they disagreed with the proposals of Minister of Health Ivan Uhliarik to the solution of current situation. According to President of Medical trade unions in Prešov doctors are resoluted not to withdraw their notices and sustain until they meet their requirements. Commenting on increasing of salaries he said, that doctors only want to top up their wages to the level of professions with comparable education, complexity and responsibility. They also refuse the moving of the protest to the political level.
Faculty Hospital in Žilina opened a new emergency post on Monday. According to daily SME, hospital received € 13 million from EU funds for its construction. For this amount the building was built, arranged and equipped with devices and, moreover, hospital purchased a linear accelerator for oncology. In the urgent part a small operating room, resuscitation room and expectancy beds are available. In the outpatient part are ambulances for internal medicine, trauma surgery, surgery and neurology. 25 nurses and 12 medical orderlies will work on the emergency post. There while will be 4 doctors in each service.
Childrens' Faculty Hospital in Košice has seven new pulse oxymetri, which can reveal blood flow disorder by small patients. Doctors may this way accelerate the transfer from department to department and provide patients sooner with acute care. The device helps to detect those situations where it is not quite clear, if the clinical condition of the patient will deteriorate. It can control the oxygen in the body of young patient. The hospital already has similar equipment, but new ones will contribute to help more children.
Slovak Medical Specialists Union asked all private outpatient clinics for one-day strike, which should take place on December the 1st. According to the Union President Andrej Janco many of private outpatient clinics were abolished because of the lack of funds and hundreds are currently about to be closed. Doctors in Union also dislike, that government only deals with the requirements of public doctors and nurses instead of compensating of shortfall in funding equitably for all. Union President also noted that private outpatient clinics were the first that expressed their requirements for salaries increasing. He argues that they have thereat received the promise of a fair sharing of financing from the Prime Minister.
