Slovak hospitals look set to relive the chaos of 2011

A mass exodus of doctors once seemed unlikely, but ten days before their resignations take effect, uncertainty reigns.

Resignation notices filed by hundreds of doctors in late September. Resignation notices filed by hundreds of doctors in late September. (Source: Sme - Marko Erd)

Welcome to your weekly commentary and overview of news from Slovakia. Hospitals may be close to collapse, with Monday a decisive day. Slovak skies are protected like never before, the government says following the Przewodow incident. The news chief of RTVS leaves after a controversial Fico broadcast. The Slovak energy landscape changes.

SkryťTurn off ads
Article continues after video advertisement
SkryťTurn off ads
Article continues after video advertisement

Anxiety over hospital negotiations

Roughly one quarter of all doctors working in Slovakia’s understaffed hospitals are serving out their notice periods, and are thus set to leave their jobs as of December 1, when their resignations, submitted en masse at the initiative of the Doctors’ Trade Unions (LOZ), come into effect.

SkryťTurn off ads

If the doctors do not withdraw their resignations, the resulting situation will be nothing short of a catastrophe for some hospitals in Slovakia. In fact, as December nears, patients in need of health care, hospital managers and doctors themselves, are following the negotiations between the LOZ and the government with growing anxiety.

The rest of this article is premium content at Spectator.sk
Subscribe now for full access

I already have subscription - Sign in

Subscription provides you with:
  • Immediate access to all locked articles (premium content) on Spectator.sk
  • Special weekly news summary + an audio recording with a weekly news summary to listen to at your convenience (received on a weekly basis directly to your e-mail)
  • PDF version of the latest issue of our newspaper, The Slovak Spectator, emailed directly to you
  • Access to all premium content on Sme.sk and Korzar.sk

Top stories

Janka, a blogger, during the inauguration of the first flight to Athens with Aegean Airlines at the airport in Bratislava on September 14, 2023.

A Czech rail operator connects Prague and Ukraine, Dominika Cibulková endorses Pellegrini, and Bratislava events.


Píšem or pišám?

"Do ľava," (to the left) I yelled, "Nie, do prava" (no, to the right), I gasped. "Dolšie," I screamed. "Nie, nie, horšie..." My Slovak girlfriend collapsed in laughter. Was it something I said?


Matthew J. Reynolds
Czech biochemist Jan Konvalinka.

Jan Konvalinka was expecting a pandemic before Covid-19 came along.


SkryťClose ad