IntoBalance 02/2008 (english)

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.

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.

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.

Management of Faculty Hospital in Trnava can not guarantee the return to positions of the doctors, who resigned under the protest. The hospital is currently preparing for the crisis option, if notices of 80 doctors will remain in force, reports daily Hospodárske noviny. In the frame of crisis plan hospital counts on the eventual engagement of new doctors to the threatened departments. According to director of the hospital the most serious situation is on the neurological department, where all doctors except the head physician resigned. Hospital counts on the help of extern doctors and there will always be one member of management with medical focus available. So far they do not plan to close the departments.

With the aim of agreement with doctors Ministry of Health prepared a memorandum, which should guarantee the fulfilment of their requirements. Memorandum has seven points considering the salaries adjustment, transformation of hospitals, the Labour Code, supplementary financing of healthcare system, anti-corruption measures, codes of ethics and withdrawal of doctos' notices. Medical trade unions should, in the case of signing of memorandum, afterwards ask the doctors to withdraw their notices. Minister will then ask the chiefs of hospitals to accept the withdrawal of notices, unless the positions are not already taken or the restructuring changes in hospitals did not already take place.

University Hospital in Košice is currently reconstructing its tissue and cellular equipment. In the renewed area and modernly equipped laboratories a new tissue and cellular transplants will be prepared. Modernizing should offer new possibilities for the treatments of some cancer and diabetes diseases. The costs of reconstruction and equipment were valued according to etrend.sk at more than € 2 million. Hospital has received the funds from the Operational Programme Health. Hospital will need additional funds for the successful launch of the project.

Slovak Medical Specialists Union asked all private outpatient clinics for one-day strike, which should take place on December the 1^st. 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.

Minister of Health Ivan Uhliarik refused the memorandum from representatives of Medical Trade Unions. According to this memorandum the salaries of doctors should rise by € 600 to 1 300. Minister insists on trade unionists to sign his proposal, which counts on the increasing of salaries gradually by € 300 next year. He considers it as a maximal and fair offer, which Slovakia can currently afford. Minister is ready to sign this Wednesday the memorandum prepared by the Ministry of Health. According to him, if trade unionists do not sign this proposal, President of Medical Trade Unions will be responsible for the impact on patients.

Hospitals in Dolný Kubín, Čadca, Liptovský Mikuláš and Trstená will not do the planned operations since this Tuesday. From November 28^th doctors will not operate even acute cases and next week hospitals will start to empty the departments and transport the patients to the hospitals in Martin and Ružomberok. The reason is that nearly half of doctors in four regional hospitals still insist on their notices. The most critical situation is in the Hospital in Dolný Kubín, where all doctors on surgery department, orthopaedic department, X-ray department and the department of anaesthesiology and intensive medicine resigned.

President of Slovak Medical Chamber Milan Dragula called on trade unionists and the Minister of Health to waive their requirements and not to hazard with the human lives. Commenting the fact that it will not be possible to provide even acute care, he said, that Ministry underestimated the notices of doctors. However, he also argues that Medical Trade Union should not have unreasonable requirements. The Chamber has developed its own proposal for solution of the situation in the healthcare system, which includes setting of the transformation or compliance with health laws. They sent the proposed measures to Minister of Health Ivan Uhliarik and President Ivan Gašparovič.