A total of 1,948 doctors have handed in their notice, and the number continues to grow, the head of the Medical Trade Union Association Peter Visolajsky reported on Thursday. The association has long warned that doctors would resign as a sign of disagreement with the current conditions in the health-care system. Back in February, it presented eight demands that could help the sector. Despite a proposal to increase the salaries of health-care workers, which is currently being debated in Parliament, Visolajsky has called on doctors to hand in their resignations. The radical move came in reaction to the fact that their demands had not been accepted.
According to Health Minister Vladimir Lengvarsky, the demand of signing a memorandum on the plan to address the situation plaguing the health care was tabled as recently as this Monday. As he stated, already on the next day the ministry released a binding set of measures with specific deadlines. “Today, they messaged us via the media that the set of measures is not enough and they demand a different form - namely, the Government memorandum," claimed Lengvarsky on Thursday adding that the ministry will offer maximum cooperation in the process of drafting the memorandum. The ministry rejects the unionists' claim of its inaction, pointing out that it is not only holding talks with doctors and other health professionals but also simultaneously addressing a wider spectrum of problems bedevilling the Slovak health sector. "The Union draws attention only to a small part of those problems," said Lengvarsky, referring to, for instance, health investments, the introduction of the DRG system and the issue of fairer health levies.
Prime Minister Eduard Heger called on doctors to reconsider their intention to leave the Slovak health-care system. As he said on Thursday, common sense and responsibility should prevail over expectations that in a short time it will be possible to solve all the pains that the health-care sector has been suffering from for decades. "People can't be hostages in the game for your well-deserved comfort, which we are able to achieve together," declared Heger to the doctors, stressing that the common goal and thus the demands of the doctors cannot be met overnight.
The government is failing to solve the situation with health-care workers' salaries, independent MP and once a Health Minister Richard Rasi said on Thursday. According to him, the government finally adopted a law with which practically no one is satisfied.
Source: TASR
