Tag: Ministry of Health

Minister of Health Ivan Uhliarik today called on Medical Trade Union (MTU) to shortly submit the Code of Ethics of the relationship between doctor and patient and the proposal of anti-corruption measures in hospitals. Trade unionists committed themselves to elaborate these documents in the Memorandum, which ended the last year´s strike action of the doctors. Leader of trade unionists Marián Kollár claims that by the end of this week the final version of these documents should be prepared. After that, Medical Trade Union plans to submit them for discussion. 

Pharmaceutical companies do not agree with the new draft law extending the advertising ban to OTC pharmaceuticals containing the same substance or same combination of substances as the Rx pharmaceuticals. Ministry of Health suggested this change in the amendment to the Act on Pharmaceuticals. Pharmaceutical companies are protesting against it in the commentary round. The extended advertising ban would reportedly affect most of currently registered pharmaceuticals.

Ministry of Health refuses the claims of producers and distributors of the pharmaceuticals that the information about their marketing expenses published on the MoH website were incorrect. According to the MoH spokeswoman the ambition of the Ministry was to publish these expenditures to show people the overviews of how much are pharmaceutical companies able and willing to spend on their marketing activities. Representatives of producers and distributors of pharmaceuticals argue that because of the ambiguity of the new Act on Pharmaceuticals they provided the overview of expenses for all marketing activities, not only activities aimed at doctors.

Ministry of Health is trying to redistribute six licences for operation of emergency service posts without a new tender. Since 2009 these stations have been operated by several providers, who won the licences in a tender. They consider the current steps of MoH as unlawful, as Ministry instead of tender only renewed the old one by requesting the original applicants in the tender. According to some providers of emergency ambulances this may prevent other possible applicants from obtaining the license.

Reports on misleading claims of the Ministry of Health are accumulating. After dissatisfied doctors and ambulances also the suppliers of pharmaceuticals have accused the Ministry of misleading informations. In its statetements MoH wrongly informed on marketing expenditures of pharmaceutical companies. According to the spokeswoman of the Association of Suppliers of Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices no pharmaceutical company operating in Slovakia spends hundreds of thousands euros monthly on the relations with health care providers.