KDH Blasts Consolidation Measures, Urges Premier to Fix Health Ministry

Kosice/Bratislava, September 22 (TASR) - The opposition's Christian Democrats (KDH) called on Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) to assume responsibility over the Health Ministry, as KDH vice-chair Viliam Karas believes that the ministry lacks proper management and vision, which endangers the constitutional right of citizens to accessible health care. Karas said this after a nationwide KDH congress held in Kosice on Saturday (September 21). "In recent days, we've witnessed a scandalous situation when the Prime Minister criticises and comments revelations in the Government portfolio of his minister, namely Health Minister Dolinkova (Voice-SD). That's unprecedented, astounding and outrageous that the Prime Minister, invested with direct powers of control, cannot fix the situation in the ministry," claimed Karas. The KDH Council also passed a resolution on the consolidation measures, in which it insists on the preservation of existing tax bonus on children and opposes the scrapping of "parental pensions". According to KDH economic expert Jozef Hajko, the Government cannot be allowed to cynically foist the burden of consolidation exclusively onto the shoulders of the people, local authorities and businesses. "We fundamentally disagree with having the Government shift 95 percent of consolidation measures onto us, the citizens, while trimming itself down only up to 5 percent," stated Hajko and warned that the cancellation of pro-family measures will disrupt the system of intergenerational solidarity and undermine future demographics of Slovakia. mf