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Tag: hospitals
Patients with acute otorhinolaryngology problems currently do not have a possibility to find a medical emergency in Trnava. Faculty hospital cancelled it from June due to the lack of doctors in this department. Adult patients, who need doctors out of office hours in hospital and policlinic, will have to travel 50 km to Bratislava, where the care is ensured in The Department of Otorhinolaryngology (ENT) in the University hospital.
From July, 72 employees from hospitals in Levice and Topoľčany will lose their jobs. The dismissing is related to the saving measures, forced by the increasing of wages of doctors and nurses. Hospitals belong to Nitra self-governmental region, which controls them through its non-profit organization. Each hospital will dismiss 36 people, mostly the office workers and lower health care professionals.
The intention of Všeobecná zdravotná poisťovňa (VšZP, General Health Insurance Company) to reduce the costs of hospitals on pharmaceuticals and medical devices has failed. Hospitals are spending even more. This results from the analysis of the costs of hospitals made by VšZP. During February and March hospitals should have reduced their average monthly costs on pharmaceuticals, dietary supplements and medical devices by 7%. Based on this VšZP increased from February the amount of finances for discharges, specially paid health services and outpatient care. Hospitals, however, failed to meet their commitment.
Concept of terminal network of hospitals will be renewed from October. Amendment to the Act on Health Insurance was approved by the Parliament. Terminal network of hospitals will contains those institutions that are of strategic importance for state. Health insurance companies will be required to conclude the contracts with them. This concept was cancelled by former Government because such approach arguably led to the market deformations by favoring of selected (state-owned) health care institutions.
After nurses also labour inspectors warn that hospitals are not paying nurses their full wages. From eight hospitals visited by inspectors, nurses were deprived of their wages by the management of three institutions – in Brezno, Zvolen and Veľký Krtíš. Directors allegedly did not have any objections to the findings and proposed measures and made an agreement on the deadline of corrections. Nurses, who would like to have their wages paid, have to, however, solve it on the court.
In the times when some hospitals were struggling with the lack of pharmaceuticals for their oncological patients, hospital in Prešov traded with them. Despite of its high loss, hospital purchased pharmaceuticals for seven months ahead and sold them immediately to two distribution companies. Incentive of the excessive purchase of pharmaceuticals and subsequent sale is not clear. Ministry of Health will not complain against former management, as according to Minister of Health Zuzana Zvolenská the law was not violated.
Všeobecná zdravotná poisťovňa (General Health Insurance Company) will increase payments for hospitals by €3.8 million monthly. The amount will be divided into particular hospitals after separate negotiations with each of them. It will depend on the individual impact of increased wages of doctors and nurses on hospital's costs. Increase is covered from €50 million governmental reserve in the state budget.
Slovak hospitals associated under the company Svet zdravia are from 2011 the recipients of humanitarian aid from the Order of the Knights of Malta from Switzerland. Slovak health institutions can also in the future count on further presents in the form of adjustable beds of furniture. Representative of the Order of the Knights of Malta, Guido Stöcklio, in these days visited the health institutions in Zemplín including hospital in Vranov, where he examined the use of humanitarian aid directly in the field. Hundreds of shipments in recent years went from Switzerland also to other countries.
Minister of Health Zuzana Zvolenská called out Rudolf Lintner from the function of director of Faculty hospital in Trenčín. According to the spokeswoman of Ministry of Health Zuzana Čižmáriková the reason was also the ever-increasing debts of the hospital. Minister wants, according to spokeswoman, in the team of directors of state hospitals firstly the managers who know how to do also non-popular decisions leading to stabilization of hospitals and to progressive reduction of debts of hospitals.
No relieving of debts of four hospitals in the scope of Žilina self-governmental region according to the President of the region, Juraj Blanár, causes further discrimination in the area of wage conditions of healthcare professionals. According to him the differences in salaries were caused by the legislation made in the times of former Minister of Health Ivan Uhliarik. He stressed that Žilina region has been long-termly adverting the differences in salaries of doctors and nurses in hospitals in the scope of region and state-owned hospitals.
