Health minister puts her fate on the table

Health Minister Andrea Kalavská (a Smer-SD nominee) on Wednesday conceded that she could link a vote on the hospital-stratification reform in Parliament with a vote in her as a Government member. On Monday she was advised to withdraw the reform from Parliament due to a lack of support, even among Smer party MPs, the party she represents as a nominee. Allegedly the request to withdraw it was made by Smer head Robert Fico. Stating that he regrets this attitude within Smer, Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini said that he and Kalavská would be looking to introduce measures that could be possible even without a major reform. Kalavska's original hospital-stratification reform was aimed, among other things, at identifying unused capacities in hospitals in order to redirect funds towards more effective purposes in order to boost the quality of health care. It found support among opposition MPs as well as the president Zuzana Čaputová.