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Tag: Ministry of Health
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.
Last year state paid for its policyholders more than € 1.21 billion. This sum represented 84.13% out of total revised budget of the Ministry of Health. Originally the state approved for 2011 for its policyholders the sum in amount of € 1.97 billion. As stated by the spokeswoman of the Ministry of Health, Zuzana Čižmáriková, during the year the insurance settlement of the state for 2010 was increased by the amount of € 9.7 million.
Government has approved the intention to create one health insurance company managed by the state. The change should occur with or without the approval of the shareholders of private health insurance companies. Detailed proposal of the process is about to be developed by the Ministry of Health by the end of September. According to the Prime Minister, Robert Fico, the new system could become operational from January 2014. Ministry of Health for now considers three various ways how to implement its plan.
Ministry of Health proposes to include into the terminal network of hospitals totaly 34 hospitals and 2 medical institutions. Concept of terminal network of hospitals in Slovakia will be renewed from October. Network should include 8 institutions from Bratislava region, 7 from Košice region and 6 from Banská Bystrica region. Nitra and Žilina region will have both 4 institutions included, Prešov region will have 3 and Trnava and Trenčín 2 institutions included.
Minister of Health Zuzana Zvolenská plans to introduce the intention of implementation of unific health insurance system on today's meeting of Government. There are several legislation possibilities for the creation of one health insurance company in Slovakia. Members of Government should today also nominate new President of Healthcare Surveillance Authority. Current President Ján Gajdoš gave up this function.
Ministry of Health has already submitted to Government its intention to create one health insurance company. This material outlines various ways how this change could take place. It does not, however, indicate how much might this transaction cost. It talks only about “reasonable compensation”, which the shareholders of private health insurance companies should get. According to the spokeswoman of the Minister, Zuzana Čižmáriková, the deeper analysis will follow after approving of initial material by the Government.
Ministry of Health has prepared an analysis of how the Government could create one insurance company. Material talks about three ways how the state could create one insurance company. First one is the leasing of insurance stock. Shareholders would thus still own the insurance companies, but state would make the decisions. Second is purchasing of shares or specific assets. If the negotiation on purchasing failed, ministry admits also the expropriation.
Ministry of Health plans to implement the rules for the export of pharmaceuticals from Slovakia and prevent thus the reexport of pharmaceuticals abroad. Minister for now did not say how concretely should be the export of pharmaceuticals abroad adjusted. She, however, indicated that there might be an approval required by exporting. In the times of former Government the producers and suppliers of pharmaceuticals already warned of the problems with reexport of pharmaceuticals. It was facilitated by their low price due to the tightening of the referencing of prices of pharmaceuticals.
After turn-out of Minister of Health Zuzana Zvolenská only some executive managers maintain their positions in the hospitals in the scope of Ministry of Health. In hospitals – subsidized organizations the current directors are appointed to manage only temporarily. In specialized hospitals, however, the names are definitive. Only director of hospital in Poprad, Jozef Tekáč, and director of National Institute for Cardiovascular Diseases, Mongi Msolly, remained in their positions. They both have been on these positions since 2006.
Ministry of Health should get the competency to establish the National transplant organization, which should be the co-ordinating part of all processes of transplantation with exactly set tasks and mandates. This body should, inter alia, issue the written approval necessary for providers, who are providing the export of issues and cells out of Slovakia. This results from the amendment to the act on health care approved by the Government.
