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According to several experts the planned restoration of terminal network of hospitals from the side of Minister of Health, Zuzana Zvolenská, will bring the bigger space for corruption and poor quality of provided health care. Former Minister Ivan Uhliarik considers the plans of current management of the Ministry as the return to socialism and warns against the corruption. According to him the Antimonopoly Office has already detected that hospitals from the list abused their market position.
Member of Parliament Daniel Lipšic criticized the intention of Prime Minister Robert Fico to merge the private health insurance companies with state Všeobecná zdravotná poisťovňa (General Health Insurance Company). According to him the out-buying of the health insurance company Dôvera would be suitable for Penta, its owner. He claims that without fair competition between several interested parties it is impossible to achieve the real market valuation of Dôvera. This creates a huge space for backstage agreements, corruption and provisions. According to him, this move would be a present for Dôvera shareholders.
Minister of Health chose Adam Hlôška for the position of the head of Pharmacy and pharmaceutical policy section. She also installed him into the function of President of Categorization Committee for Pharmaceuticals. In this position he was in 2008-2010 and then he returned to the pharmaceutical company Abbot Laboratories. Former Minister of Health Ivan Uhliarik points to a possible conflict of interests. Spokeswoman of the Ministry claims that in the case of any suspicion of favouritism of some pharmaceutical company, Minister will intervene immediately.
Political party Smer does not like the order for modernization of distress line 155 from the time of former Minister of Health Ivan Uhliarik. Contract worth more than € 3 million was approved without the public competition. Chairman of the Parliamentary Health Care Committee, Richard Raši, therefore wants to ask Minister of Health to examine this cause of possible wasting of public resources. He has principal stipulations about the way the contract was concluded. Order is currently being examined by the Public Procurement Office.
Ministry of Health (MoH) is dissatisfied with the proposal of anti-corruption measures and Code of Ethics submitted by the Medical Trade Union. According to Minister Ivan Uhliarik the Code of Ethic is silent on the relationship between doctors and patients. Furthermore, he said that the list of anti-corruption measures, for example, does not solve the corruption between doctor and pharmaceutical company or between doctor and patient. Ministry of Health will ask the non-governmental organizations Transparency International Slovakia and Alliance Fair Play to comment the materials.
Medical Trade Union submitted a new Code of Ethics and the proposal of anti-corruption measures. Their working out was undertaken in the agreement with Government, which stopped the last years protest actions of physicians. For the violation of the Code Union also wants to punish its members. According to the Code, for example, doctor may not compel the patient to the bribe, or take it from him. One of the anti-corruption measures is also a proposal that each patient can choose the doctor in hospital and charge for this choice would be divided between hospital and doctor.