Pensioners Call on Doctors to Withdraw Their Resignation Notices

Bratislava, December 2 (TASR) - Pensioners, represented by Michal Kotian, head of the Slovak Pensioners Union (JDS) and Viliam Oberhauser, head of the civic association Christian Pensioners Memory of the Nation have urged doctors to withdraw their resignation notices, condemning the actions of the the Doctors Trade Union (LOZ), which, according to them, jeopardise the health and lives of people. They argue that mass resignations during a health crisis threaten the health and lives of the most vulnerable ones, namely the elderly, children and young families. "It is sad and unfair that doctors don't consider in their demands who built most of the hospitals in Slovakia where patients are treated today, the schools and universities where our doctors were educated, and the infrastructure that enables them and their families to access education and work," Kotian remarked, emphasising that this is also the result of decades of work by today's pensioners. More than 3,300 doctors in hospitals across Slovakia have already filed resignation notices in a show of unhappiness with the situation prevailing in health care. The doctors are also considering submitting overtime work notices. They are willing to withdraw them if the government starts meeting their demands. They first and foremost insist that the points of the memorandum from 2022 should be met. They also want the government to publicly declare that state-run hospitals won't be transformed into joint-stock companies. lin/mcs/ko