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Tag: legislation
Pharmaceutical companies will probably from October pay significantly more for issuing of the decision on the registration of human pharmaceuticals. This is provided by the newest amendment to the act on administrative fees submitted by the Ministry of Finance. According to it the registration of new pharmaceutical will cost € 9600 instead of current € 2 489. Pharmaceutical company will pay € 8 000 for the registration of known or generic pharmaceutical. Increasing of the fees for the registration of pharmaceuticals was planned also by former Government.
From now the prescribing doctor should bear the responsibility for prescription of unregistered human pharmaceuticals. For therapeutic use of such pharmaceuticals also the previous written informed approval of patient should be required. This results from the proposal of the amendment to the act on pharmaceuticals and medical devices made by Ministry of Health, which was shifted to the second reading by members of Parliament. Legislation measure strengthens the supervision over human pharmaceutical, supervision over the market and sanctions for non-compliance with the relevant provisions.
Act on minimum wage claims of nurses and midwives is on the Constitutional Court. The initiative to review its constitutionality was on Monday filed by the General Prosecutor's Office. Office also wants the Court to temporarily stop the force of law. Prosecution attacks its conception, which is, according to it, not in accordance with the Constitution. Prosecution argues that in order to ensure the constitutionality protection it is necessary to take into account the fact, whether there are real conditions for enforcement of the law or not.
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.
Ministry of Health plans the change in the system of purchasing of vaccines. Currently doctors have to purchase them by themselves. Until December they were delivered to doctors for particular patients by pharmacies and afterwards they were reimbursed by the health insurance company. Doctors in January called for declaration of emergency state, lately they agreed with Ministry on the simplification and elimination of some administrative barriers. In summer Ministry plans to open the act on pharmaceuticals and incorporate the mentioned change into it. Doctors would no longer have to finance the vaccines.
Doctors and nurses refused the preparation of new common law for health care employees, as well as the possible merging of acts on wages of doctors and nurses. As was noted by the head of Medical Trade Union, Peter Visolajský, he does not know anybody concerned, who would be interested in merging of acts. Therefore he appealed to Minister of Health Zuzana Zvolenská to stop the work on common law. President of Slovak Chamber of Nurses and Midwives, Mária Lévyová, approved that nurses are not identified with such plans.
Payments for state policyholders should be increased to 4.32%. This results from the amendment of Jozef Valocký to the act on health insurance, which was submitted by Richard Raši. Originally the payment for state policyholders was on the level of 4%. This way the reserve in amount of € 50 million created by approving of state budget should get into the system until the end of 2012. Reserve should at least partially cover the lack of resources in health care system for higher salaries of nurses and doctors.
Healthcare Surveillance Authority in the frame of commenting on the amendment to the act on health care proposes to introduce the regulation of the export of tissues abroad. This is the reaction to the recent case, when private tissue institution did not use the collected tissues for Slovak recipients, but exported them to other countries. Current legislation dealing with tissues does not content any conditions and restrictions of the export and import of tissues to other countries.
According to the President of Parliamentary Health Committee, Richard Raši, the common act for all healthcare professionals solving their salaries does not mean, that Ministry will touch the contested wages of doctors and nurses. This way he reacted to the concerns of doctors, that the protests from last year will be repeated. As he added, he accepts that currently hospitals have a problem with paying higher wages, but Ministry according to him will not risk any further protests.
Other healthcare professionals also want the same wage conditions as nurses. Act on nurses allegedly detracted from the variable component of the wage of other healthcare professionals, as the salaries of nurses were solved from their resources. Chamber of other healthcare professionals, however, does not plan any coercive actions or petitions. Representatives of the Chamber, which represents about 15 000 healthcare employees, today negotiated on their requirements with the Minister of Health Zuzana Zvolenská. They have allegedly agreed on the creation of new act for other healthcare professionals.
