DOCTORS at the Slovak Medical Chamber (SLK) congress on September 28 drafted a message to citizens concluding that doctor-patient relations are more complicated now than ever, saying that the media’s exaggeration of medical malpractice and politicians’ efforts to criminalise doctors have exacerbated the situation, the TASR newswire wrote.
According to SLK head Marian Kollár, the current atmosphere in society can be viewed as a campaign against doctors, and that the chamber’s primary effort should therefore be to restore people’s trust in the medical profession.
“The relationship of a doctor and a patient, based on mutual respect, is the basis of successful medicine,” said Kollár. “We, doctors, want to assure the Slovak public that we realise our responsibility and we will always be on the side of the patient.”
At the congress, the SLK also called for compulsory membership in the chamber for doctors, as it is in most European countries. Membership in Slovakia was obligatory until 2004.
The SLK also criticised the current programme, under which doctors’ mistakes are subject to review of the Health Care Supervision Authority (ÚDZS), and called for solutions to problems involving the health-care provider network and excessive limits put on the provision of medical treatment.
