According to the analyst of the Institute of Economic and Social Analysis (INESS) Martin Vlachynský, the approval of legislation to ensure the availability of health care is a step in the wrong direction, regardless of the opinion of the Medical Association (LOZ). “At most, the government bought a little time in exchange for serious interference with civil liberties and damage to the reputation of the Slovak market in the eyes of future health professionals or those who were thinking about returning to Slovakia,” he added for TASR.
He perceives the demands of medical trade unionists as a mixture of reasonable demands (measures in education), which, according to him, should not be negotiated through coercive actions, and political demands (ban on the transformation of hospitals), which, according to him, rather belong to the political agenda. He considers the salary requirement to be achievable, but at the expense of other items in the budget.
“The public system has become a prisoner of the salary machine, which is a unique and at the same time highly ineffective tool, because it has no connection to economic or fiscal reality. It would help Slovakia to get rid of it, wages should be a matter of negotiation between employees and the employer,” the analyst added in this regard .
In the current situation, he expects that some doctors will withdraw their statements. “Some of them will be sent to hospitals, a small part will move to the ambulatory sector, and the rest will leave the Slovak system. We can only guess the proportions of these parts” added Vlachynský.
More than 3,300 doctors from hospitals across Slovakia resigned as a sign of dissatisfaction with the situation in the healthcare sector. Doctors have already started submitting overtime notices. They are willing to withdraw them if the government starts fulfilling their demands. Their notice period expires on December 31.
In response to the situation with dismissals, a law related to measures to ensure the availability of institutional health care was adopted. The legislation expands the definition of an emergency to include the critical unavailability of health care. During it, health workers will be obliged to provide health care. However, the Ministry of Health and the LOZ declare their efforts to reach an agreement as soon as possible.
