Illustrative stock photo (source: SME)
The resignation drive was launched by 200 notices of nurses and midwives in Žilina hospital on November 26. Together 382 of their peers from Prešov hospital followed suit on November 27, while another 92 nurses and midwives resigned in Bojnice hospital (Trenčín Region). A total of 64 nurses and midwives from Louis Pasteur Hospital in Košice handed in their notice on November 30, while 106 resigned from the Faculty Hospital in Trnava and 130 from the hospital in Poprad (Prešov Region).
“We expect more notices to come,” said head of the Slovak Chamber of Nurses and Midwives (SKSaPA) Iveta Lazorová, as quoted by the TASR newswire.
The nurses are dissatisfied with how the Health Ministry has dealt with their demands regarding pay and working conditions. The mass resignation is also an attempt to counter a bill approved in late November. The nurses deplore the fact that the legislation will only increase the salaries of over 20 occupations working at hospitals, which excludes those working in doctor’s surgeries, spas and social service facilities. They also demand that factors such as the number of years one has worked in the sector be included in the calculation of one’s pay, as reported by TASR.
Nurses who handed in their notice by the end of November will officially terminate their employment next February.
Health Ministry spokesman Peter Bubla said that the ministry is watching closely how the situation unfolds.
“We’ll wait until the end of the day before we come up with an assessment,” said Bubla, as quoted by TASR.
Health Minister Viliam Čislák is in touch with the heads of the hospitals concerned. He said last week that the mass resignations are politically motivated, with Nurse and Midwives Labour Union head Monika Kavecká considering running for a parliamentary seat come the general election in March 2016, TASR wrote.
