The government approved a set of healthcare legislative changes as part of the agreement with the Medical Trade Union (LOZ) on Thursday. Health Minister Kamil Sasko (Hlas-SD) expressed confidence that the changes, which include salary increases for doctors, the establishment of staffing norms in hospitals, and reduced working hours for health-care workers, will also be approved by the House.
The changes are intended to ensure that doctors' salaries increase in line with the original level before consolidation. The weekly working hours for health-care workers in hospitals should be reduced from 40 to 37.5 hours, with hospitals expected to implement this by September. At the same time, the staffing norms in hospitals should be enshrined in law, effective from 2026. The obligations of health insurance companies and the Supervision of Health Care (UDZS) should also be modified.
The Association of Employers' Unions and Associations warned this week that, if approved, they risk disrupting the health care system within two years, as several of the medical unions' demands are, in their view, unworkable in practice, both from a staffing and financial point of view.
Source: TASR, STVR
