Krajci Lambasts Fico for Indifference to Doctors' Resignations

Bratislava, November 5 (TASR) - 'Slovakia' party MP and former Health Minister Marek Krajci on Tuesday criticised Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) for his indifference to doctors' resignations and urged the government to reach an agreement with them as soon as possible, warning that failing to do so could lead to the collapse of key hospital departments. "More than 3,200 hospital doctors have resigned. Prime Minister Fico pretends that it doesn't concern him and that the health minister should be the one to resolve the issue. However, it is worth remembering what he said in 2022, when he was part of the opposition and the government was dealing with a similar crisis. At that time, he proclaimed that the prime minister should have resolved the crisis, that the president should have resolved the crisis, that everyone was silent, which, of course, was not true. He's now hiding behind his [Health] Minister [Kamil Sasko]," stated the ex-minister at a press conference. In a draft resolution from the previous electoral term, opposition MPs for Smer-SD at the time proposed an even bigger salary increase than what was agreed in a 2022 memorandum concluded with the medical trade union. Krajci said that according to Robert Fico's proposal, when he was still part of the opposition, a certified doctor with 30 years of experience would have a basic salary of €6,149 per month the following year, but now, according to a recently approved proposal, this will be reduced by €1,369. At the same time, Krajci criticised a recent draft amendment to the Act on Health-care Providers, which addresses health-care workers' salaries. According to him, in this way the amendment would result in employees working in several health-care professions being paid less than the amounts guaranteed in the memorandum. As a result he announced plans to submit a motion to return the coefficients to the level seen in 2022. Over 3,200 doctors had submitted their resignations by Monday. They began filing them last week in order to express their dissatisfaction with the state of the health-care sector. They are open to further negotiations and are willing to retract their resignations if the government addresses their demands. Doctors are calling for the points outlined in the 2022 memorandum, which was signed by the Medical Trade Union Association (LOZ) and the previous government, to be implemented. They also demand that the government should publicly declare that state hospitals will not be transformed into joint stock companies. Health Minister Kamil Sasko (Voice-SD) has expressed his willingness to continue negotiations, and he hopes that the issue of salary increases for doctors will not be an obstacle to finding an agreement. tl/df