Nearly 1,500 doctors out of the 6,500 working in Slovakia's hospitals have filled in forms giving notice of their intention to end their employment contracts, but the forms are only being collected at the moment and will all be filed at the same time, the head of the Doctors Trade Union Association (LOZ), Marián Kollar, said on Wednesday, September 14, the TASR newswire reported. Kollár didn't specify when the forms would be handed in. Judging by his recent comments, however, this may happen by the end of October.
The unions say that en masse resignations are a last resort aimed at saving the Slovak health-care system. Kollár said that resignation forms are being filled in at practically all hospitals in Slovakia. "Given the fact that we've been collecting them for only a few days, we view the number as a huge success and we're convinced that there will be a lot more of us," he added. Doctors who recently signed a declaration in which they expressed their desire to fight for better conditions in the Slovak health-care system said that they were ready to hand in their notices if their demands were not met.
The LOZ has compiled a list of what it regards as the ten biggest problems in Slovak health care, which include the drive to transform hospitals into joint-stock companies, low state contributions for policy-holders, money-wasting in hospitals, a long-term shortfall in allocating money to health care and violations of the Labour Code.
Source: TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
