Prime Minister Iveta Radičová considers a letter from foreign ambassadors to her government regarding bills approved by the government last week to be a continuation of misleading lobbying by large pharmaceutical companies, the TASR newswire reported.
In a letter the Prime Minister sent to several ambassadors on June 13, she stressed that "the most important principle of both bills is the considerable increase of transparency and accountability in Slovak health care", according to a release from the Government Office’s press department, which stated that the aim is to reduce medication prices for patients and use the saved resources to improve the quality of health-care treatment in Slovakia.
The government office said that if the reform is passed, prices for drugs in Slovakia should drop to the second lowest level within the EU and that the bills are designed to help curb waste of public resources and to reduce the risks of corruption and conflict of interests when regulating and prescribing drugs.
"Without these changes, it's impossible to make health care more accessible. Too much money gets lost in health care without bringing any benefits to patients. The government will put a stop to this waste," added Radičová. She said the proposals have undergone a standard legislative process with the Health Ministry discussing them with all relevant organisations, accepting or partially accepting 838 comments.
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.
14. Jun 2011 at 10:00
