'Slovakia': 'Instagram' Minister Dolinkova Should Have Stepped Down Long Ago

Bratislava, October 4 (TASR) - Health Minister Zuzana Dolinkova (Voice-SD) should have resigned a long time ago, as she served the interests of financial groups in the health-care sector to the detriment of patients, opposition 'Slovakia' party spokesperson Matus Bystriansky told TASR on Friday. The party claimed that the minister spent most of her time indulging in taking Instagram photos of herself. "She managed to scrap dental benefits for people; postpone [the introduction of] maximum waiting times for surgeries, which were supposed to come into effect as of 2024; increase health-care levies and put a stop to the central system of patient appointments," stated former health minister and MP Marek Krajci ('Slovakia'-For the People-KU). He added that Dolinkova has given preferential treatment to the Penta financial group's hospital and thus endangered the drawing of millions of euros from the EU by stopping the construction of a national hospital in Bratislava's Razsochy area. MP Veronika Remisova ('Slovakia'-For the People-KU) hopes that the new minister won't be a puppet in the hands of financial groups, but a person who actually cares for patients. "The collapse of health care and her unwillingness to fight for the interests of health personnel in the face of Fico's package for people's impoverishment, the personnel disintegration at Trencin hospital caused directly by her dilettantism and the inroads made by financial groups in health care - that's the credit that goes to outgoing 'Instagram' Health Minister Zuzana Dolinkova," said Remisova. mf/df