Dolinkova: Danko Lies and Fails to Understand Health Sector

Bratislava, September 22 (TASR) - Health Minister Zuzana Dolinkova (Voice-SD) rejects criticism from coalition's SNS leader Andrej Danko and called his statements made on TA3 talk show earlier on Sunday untrue lies. Dolinkova added that Danko doesn't really grasp how the health sector works. On TA3's 'In Politics' talk show, Danko criticised Dolinkova for doing non-systemic work and called her Government portfolio a "black hole where most money goes to disappear". "I emphatically reject lies stated on TA3 today by SNS chair Andrej Danko. Mr. chairman apparently possesses absolutely distorted and partial information about the workings of the Health Ministry, which, unfortunately, he doesn't even understand," said Dolinkova. Earlier in the day, Danko claimed that there's a growing influence of "oligarchs" in Slovakia's health segment and an increasing struggle between the state and private sector. "A year into her tenure, the minister has proven incapable to set up lines of communication with the private sector, so as to prevent the private sector from building a private hospital in Bory, whereas, on the other hand, the state faces a decision of where or even if to build (its own new hospital)," he said. Dolinkova disregarded his statement as tendentious and pointed out that the Bory Hospital has been in operation for two years already. She added that work in the ministry continues with the preparation of materials for the construction of a new hospital in the Government-approved location of Bratislava Ruzinov. "It's regrettable that the incorrect and misleading statements come from our coalition partner. I reiterate that I'm prepared to explain to Mr. Danko what is truth and what are lies any time. But it takes two for a dialogue and it's also necessary to listen to relevant arguments, not just biased lies and half-truths from those, who are not even in the leadership of the Health Ministry," she claimed. mf