Health Minister Vladimír Lengvarský sees the failure to reach an agreement with the doctors' unions as a last option. He said this after a meeting with directors of state hospitals on Monday, adding that more than 2,000 doctors had submitted their resignations. "I think it's too soon to talk about further plans or crisis scenarios. For now, we are working with the idea that there is a willingness to come to an agreement and we also feel it from the approach of the trade union officials," he said. Lengvarsky said he plans to meet the doctors' trade unions in the upcoming days. Medical unionists also held talks with the Minister of Health on Tuesday 4 October. They came to the meeting with specific requests. The number of notices is still changing, while some hospitals haven't been handed any resignations at all. Bratislava University Hospital director Alexander Mayer stated that the current situation isn't a manifestation of dissatisfaction with hospital management, but with the system. Miriam Lapunikova, the director of F.D. Roosevelt University Hospital in Banska Bystrica, stressed the need to hold talks, too. She views the unionists' demands as legitimate. The Medical Trade Union Association (LOZ) last week announced that at least 2,050 doctors had handed in their notices as of the end of September. LOZ has been speaking about doctors handing in their notices to indicate their disagreement with the current conditions in the system.
Source: TASR, Daily Denník N
