LOZ: If Consolidation Package is Okayed, Doctors Will Start Resigning

Bratislava, September 27 (TASR) - If the draft consolidation measures are approved by Parliament, the Medical Trade Union (LOZ) will start collecting doctors' resignation notices, said LOZ chairman Peter Visolajsky in response to the fact that the consolidation package was moved to its second reading on Thursday (September 26). "The vote and fast-tracked legislative procedure on the consolidation package, which ignored warnings from doctors and nurses, is a betrayal of health-care professionals and patients," stressed Visolajsky. MPs devoted the whole of Thursday to the debate on the consolidation package. At the end of the day they moved it to its second reading, which is scheduled to start next Tuesday (October 1). The consolidation package consists of two legislative proposals and measures that should bring €2.7 billion into the state budget. The measures are expected to decrease the public deficit to 4.7 percent of gross domestic product from just under 6 percent this year. The proposed consolidation measures in the health-care sector entail slowing down increases in health-care workers' salaries in both the outpatient and hospital sectors to 3 percent for one year as well as the transformation of state hospitals into joint-stock companies. Both health-care organisations and the opposition have criticised the measures. am/df