Medical trade unionists are calling a protest rally to save the health care system on Thursday 17 November at Freedom Square in Bratislava. They accuse the government of inaction in connection with the mass dismissals of doctors. With the protest rally, the trade unionists want to warn the government to use the remaining time to reach an agreement. More than 2,100 doctors from 31 Slovak hospitals were due to hand in their collective resignations at the beginning of October. Medical trade unionists explained the resignations by disagreeing with the current conditions in the system.
On Sunday’s political programme aired on the nnews channel TA3, Prime Minister Eduard Heger asked the doctors to help the Government, which is dealing with health care as a priority, and to withdraw their resignations, adding that he understands their exhaustion and demands. The premier declared his readiness to sign a memorandum with them to solve the situation in the health-care sector, pointing out that a collapse of the health-care system would be the worst possible scenario. Heger understands the doctors' statements to mean that their salaries are no longer a problem, and that other things need to be worked on to improve health care in Slovakia.
According to MPs Jana Bitto Ciganikova (Freedom and Solidarity/SaS) and Marek Krajci (OLaNO), who met on TV Markiza's Sunday politics talk show 'Na telo', there is no other way than to strike an agreement with the doctors; if the memorandum proposed by the Health Ministry becomes a little more precise, doctors should sign it. They did not want to talk about other possible solutions, they do not accept the collapse of the health-care system.
According to the medical unionists, the document the Health Ministry presented as a memorandum is totally inadequate and, apart from general phrases, it does not commit the government to any solutions to the problems of the Slovak health care system.
Source: TASR
