ZMOS: Mass Resignations of Doctors Would Mean Total Collapse

Bratislava, October 22 (TASR) - Announced mass resignations of doctors in hospitals would mean a total collapse of the health-care system and it wouldn't be possible to ensure health care for the public, head of the Association of Slovak Towns and Villages (ZMOS) Jozef Bozik has warned. According to Bozik, health care is in a very bad situation not only in Slovakia, but also in the whole of Europe, with the system declining in the last five to ten years. "This decline will continue regardless of whether doctors in hospitals get what they demand or not, and this is also because health care accessibility is receding, and to talk about the quality of health care in Slovakia is - whether we like it or not - a very relative concept at the moment," Bozik opined. The ZMOS head also stated that there needs to be a general agreement on what will be a priority for the state. "Because we want everything. We want health care, we want education, we want roads, bridges, highways, the army, the police, and obviously the performance of this state is not up to it, not to mention what local governments, which are the pillar of the functioning of this state, want," he noted. Bozik at the same time remarked that in order to get to know the demands of medical trade unions better, he needs to meet head of the Medical Trade Union Association (LOZ) Peter Visolajsky. Visolajsky announced earlier in the day that hospital doctors are prepared to file their resignation notices en masse by the end of October, with 2,462 doctors already having drafted them. It is crucial for LOZ that there is a system in Slovakia that will ensure the availability of medical staff in hospitals. At the same time, medical trade unions insist that the memorandum they signed with the Slovak government in 2022 is observed. Visolajsky underlined that there is still time for the government to settle matters at a negotiating table. zel/mcs