Linking a tragic accident near Skalica (Trnava region) with a Health Ministry tender for medical helicopter services is immoral, Health Minister Zuzana Zvolenska said at an extraordinary parliamentary session on Thursday that features a no-confidence vote in her.
Linking a tragic accident near Skalica (Trnava region) with a Health Ministry tender for medical helicopter services is immoral, Health Minister Zuzana Zvolenska said at an extraordinary parliamentary session on Thursday that features a no-confidence vote in her. Zvolenska has come under criticism for the lack of medevac helicopter services in Bratislava and Trenčín regions between 12-16 September. It was claimed that the life of a woman who died in a car accident near Bratislava during this period could have been saved if rescue helicopters had been able to attend. “A helicopter was available throughout the rescue operation following this accident,” said Zvolenska, calling efforts to blame the woman's death on the perceived unavailability of medevac’s as ‘self-serving and deceptive’.
A medevac would have been dispatched to the site had paramedics deemed it necessary and had they requested it, she said. This never happened, she added, backing up her claims with pertinent audio recordings. Once the woman was admitted to Skalica hospital, doctors decided that she should be taken to a hospital in Bratislava by ambulance, said Zvolenska. Only the Health Care Supervisory Authority (UDZS) can determine if such a course of action was correct, said the minister. According to Zvolenska, the Opposition's efforts to oust her are due to the upcoming regional VUC elections. The Opposition has criticised Zvolenska over the fact that tenders for licences for helicopter emergency services in Bratislava and Trenčín were concluded only five days after the licences from the previous period expired.
