Health personnel salaries will increase, as Parliament on Wednesday approved a bill to that effect. Aside from salary hikes for doctors and nurses, the income of other health personnel is also to increase. The hikes will be based not only on higher wage coefficients but on years of practice as well. The bill was conceived as the Health Ministry's response to the shortage of health personnel, shrinking interest in the study of health-related fields and the drain of health personnel out of the system or abroad. The ministry also intends to avoid the announced mass resignations by doctors in this fashion.
Health Minister Vladimir Lengvarsky (OLaNO nominee) hopes that health salary hikes will convince doctors to stay with their patients. Finance Minister Igor Matovic (OLaNO) pointed out that the hike will constitute the greatest wage increase in Slovak history. According to Matovic, it will cost an extra €232 million in addition to the regular salary hikes that stem from the salary scheme.
The Slovak Nurses and Midwives Chamber stated on Wednesday that the salary hikes for health personnel will not stop the exodus of nurses and midwives from the health system. "We're glad to see the salary hikes, although it will fall short in its goal of retaining nurses and midwives in the system. As things stand today, we record a catastrophic shortage of nurses - we're almost 15,000 short," reads the text. The Chamber criticised Parliament for disregarding its demands. "We reached out to every lawmaker to consider increasing the salaries by about €150 [monthly], as the 14-percent inflation will mean that the real wages won't even rise at all and hence this measure is inadequate," reads the post. The Chamber also pointed out that the hike does not apply to nurses working for social service facilities, out-patient doctor offices and home care agencies.
