Ján Gajdoš is set to return to the post of director of Slovakia’s Health-care Supervisory Authority (ÚDZS), three years after he was replaced by the former government, the TASR newswire reported on Wednesday, August 25.
The current government should discuss replacement of the current director, Richard Demovič, by Gajdoš at its session on Friday. If approved, Gajdoš will resume the directorship as early as on Saturday. The 2006-2010 Fico government dismissed Gajdoš only a few days after an amendment to the Act on Health Insurers and Health-care Supervision came into force. That changed previous regulations under which the government was allowed to recall the ÚDZS chief only in specific cases. At the time Gajdoš said his dismissal was political.
Former health minister Ivan Valentovič (a nominee of the Smer party) justified Gajdoš’s dismissal at the time by pointing to the “results of the office’s activities with reference to the current situation in health care and the government’s responsibility for public health”. The current health minister, Ivan Uhliarik (KDH), now intends to employ the same reasoning to sack Demovič, even though he criticised the 2007 amendment as “unfortunate” as it took away ÚDZS’s independence from the political establishment. Uhliarik stated, however, that he wants to reduce the influence of politics on ÚDZS as far as possible.
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.
