Slovakia spends more money on health care than the neighbouring countries of the Visegrad Four group (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia), yet it lags behind in terms of results, claims a report by the OECD. The Czechs, Hungarians and Poles enjoy higher life expectancies: in males by six months and in females by five months, reads the report. Public spending in health care stood at 5.6 percent of GDP in Slovakia in 2015. The room for higher efficiency lies in a revision of the use of special health equipment. Also the use of drugs, the high prescription rate and inefficient medication in terms of costs have been flagged. Furthermore indebted Slovak hospitals would benefit from streamlined procurement processes of goods and services as well as from the introduction of a so called diagnosis-related group system.
