Tag: legislation

The right to strike for healthcare professionals will remain intact. The members of Parliament refused the proposal of amendment to the Act on health care providers and related amendments of Penal Code and the Code of criminal procedure, which should have limited the right of healthcare professionals to strike. The proposal prepared by the Ministry of Health was criticized by several members of Parliament. The withdrawal of the registration for the performance in the case of violation of the law was considered as excessive penalty.

The way of drug prescriptions in Slovakia will be changed. President has signed the new Act on Pharmaceuticals with effect from December 1st, 2011. Beside the prescribed drug, doctors will be required to initiate also the active substance, while the obligation of the pharmacist will be to expend the cheapest drug. Based on the clinical grounds, the doctor will be authorized to prohibit the expedition of the generic drug. This change will affect approximately 40% of the pharmaceuticals. Ministry of Health expects the annual savings of patients to be € 50 million annually.

According to daily SME from 3/10/2011 the Ministry of Health of Slovak republic proposes to reduce office hours of emergency posts up to 10pm. This restriction is justified by inefficiencies and is based on analysis, which was made in March 2009 and January 2011. Association of first aid providers doubts the results of the analysis and fears that office hours shortening will threaten the access to care.