By 2040, Slovakia is expected to be short nearly 20,000 nurses. This comes from a forecast by the Ministry of Health. Nurses from Ukraine could help fill the gap, but even four years after the outbreak of the war, they still face lengthy bureaucracy.
Currently, Slovakia is missing about 2,800 nurses. “When we look at OECD and Eurostat statistics, we see that the EU average is 8.4 nurses per thousand inhabitants. According to these statistics, we have 5.4,” says Iveta Lazorová, president of the Slovak Chamber of Nurses and Midwives.
“You arrived as a higher-class nurse, but in Slovakia that doesn’t apply,” explains Ukrainian nurse Olha Ubasnikova. “I was a higher-category nurse,” adds Anna Porytska. According to Lazorová, this is still not enough.
“They do not have education that corresponds to the requirements for nurses within the EU,” Lazorová claims. With the education they obtained in their home country, Ukrainian nurses in Slovakia can therefore only become practical nurses – assistants. Even to reach this position, they must go through a demanding process. “To tell you the truth, it was very difficult to get this diploma recognized,” says Ukrainian nurse Iryna Pavelko.
“We have been talking about this for years, also with the ministry and the competent authorities. Perhaps it is worth considering whether these exams could be simplified so they are not so demanding,” explains Eva Kliská, spokesperson for the University Hospital Bratislava.
“Simplifying the process is only possible within the limits of the European Union directive. Within the valid rules, we proceed as helpfully as possible with an emphasis on maintaining quality and without the possibility of positive discrimination. It is not possible to exclude or specifically favor only nurses from Ukraine,” responds Veronika Daničová, spokesperson for the Ministry of Health.
“We should be more accommodating. If we don’t do it, another country will,” adds Tomáš Král, spokesperson for the Penta Hospitals network.
Source: STVR
