Health Minister Zuzana Dolinková (source: TASR)
Health Minister Zuzana Dolinková (Hlas) is bringing another previously independent institution under her direct control, reports the Sme daily.
Last week, the governing coalition approved an amendment to the Act on Health Insurance Companies, according to which the head of the National Institute for Value and Technologies in Healthcare (NIHO) may be dismissed by the government upon a proposal by the health minister, at any time and without cause.
The NIHO was established to assess costs in the health sector and to help ensure the state pays less for medicines and medical devices. In order to be independent, its head was appointed by a group of experts. Last year, it managed to save up to €111 million for the state. For example, the NIHO re-evaluated pharmaceutical companies' drug price offers and managed to significantly reduce them.
However, if a politician or business group expresses is unhappy with the agency's actions, the minister will now be free to dismiss the head of the NIHO at any time.
From now on, only a doctor or pharmacist will be able to apply for the post. If the current director, Michal Staňák, were to be dismissed, he would not be able to re-apply since he is neither. Staňák is an expert in the evaluation of medical technology.
The amendment is to apply from August.
Change no one saw
On Tuesday last week, the draft amendment was discussed by parliament's health committee. The changes proposed by the coalition were mostly acceptable to the opposition MPs. However, on Wednesday morning Hlas party MP Zdenko Sloboda announced during the session that he wanted to propose an amendment. He then read it out and called for an immediate vote on it. According to Tomáš Szalay, an MP for the opposition party Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) who is also a health expert, no one saw the proposed amendment in its written form.
Sloboda proposed that the minister should be able to dismiss the head of the NIHO without giving any reason, that only a doctor or pharmacist could lead the agency, and that the Health Ministry should have more influence over the committee that selects the office-holder.
Progressive Slovakia (PS) MP and health expert Oskar Dvořák pointed out that the amendment will effectively allow the government to appoint its own nominee, for example from a pharmaceutical company, which could lead to a direct conflict of interest.
Minister: No more 'discrimination'
Dolinková defended the change by saying that until now only a very limited number of people could participate in the selection process and pointing out that last time there were only two candidates, neither of which had a formal education in medicine or pharmacy. The amendment abolishes these "discriminatory conditions", she asserted.
Szalay opposed the changes, saying that the minister was lying and that doctors and pharmacists were already able to apply for the job. However, now no one else will be able to do so.
In February, the government dismissed Renáta Blahová from the post of head of the Healthcare Supervision Office based on the health minister's proposal. According to Dolinková, Blahová failed to address fundamental issues in the health-care sector, repeatedly overstepped the legal powers of the office, and didn't meet the qualification requirements for the post as set by the law.
