Another 39 nurses resign at Žilina Faculty Hospital

Another 39 nurses have filed their notices of resignation at Žilina Faculty Hospital, citing their disagreement with Manager for Nursing Care Margita Porubčanská as the reason. The nurses worked in the intensive care and traumatology departments. They followed in the footsteps of 24 colleagues from the hospital's intensive care unit who handed in their notices on Friday. The nurses complained about being totally exhausted from frequent overtime. They urged the management of the hospital to cut overtime hours and to increase the number of nurses working in the intensive care unit - as well as in the hospital as a whole - so that the needs of the wards are met. In early March, 13 doctors from the hospital's internal medicine ward submitted their resignations in protest against what they deemed to be cost concerns dictating patient care. Hospital director Štefan Volák stepped down on Saturday (March 21) after being urged by Health Minister Viliam Čislák to assume personal responsibility. The medical personnel, however, do not plan to withdraw their notices after this step. The Health Minister did not manage to reach a compromise solution on Monday and promised to announce his stance by the end of this week.