Doctors obliged to issue electronic sick notes from June

Many are said to continue not using the new ePN service.

Doctors are obliged to issue a sick leave certificate electronically from June 1.Doctors are obliged to issue a sick leave certificate electronically from June 1. (Source: Pexels)

General practitioners, gynaecologists, hospitals and spas are obliged to issue a sick leave certificate electronically from June 1 instead of paper form.

Until now it has been optional to issue these electronic certificates.

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

In justified cases, a sick leave certificate may still be printed, the National Health Information Centre has said. However, more than 98 percent of doctors’ offices and hospitals have access to the IT system that enables the issuing of these electronic certificates, known as the ePN service in Slovak. This means a hand-written certificate should no longer be a common occurrence.

SkryťTurn off ads

A doctor may be fined up to €3,300 by the Health Ministry for violating the new rule, the centre added. The ministry has said that it does not want to impose any penalties on doctors. Instead, it plans to motivate those doctors unwilling to issue ePN certificates. The ministry did not explain how.

The Society of General Practitioners has confirmed to the TASR news agency that many doctors will not switch to the ePN service after June 1, and the situation will not thus change. Some will issue the certificates in their printed form, others will do so using the electronic service, the society noted.

The ePN service was launched a year ago, and more than 370,000 electronic sick notes have been issued since then.

Specialists are expected to join the service in 2024.

Top stories

Slovakia marks 20 years since joining NATO.

Slovakia marks 20 years in the Alliance.


Daniel Hoťka and 1 more
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