The battle between doctors and the Ministry of Health continues as the doctors’ trade union organisation LOZ refuses to urge doctors to withdraw their mass resignations.
Talks have not made much headway, and one crucial point, the transformation of hospitals into joint stock companies, could still go ahead under the interim government, which has the mandate to continue until March 2012.
The doctors are also demanding higher salaries, hardly surprising given that the starting salary for a physician is around EUR 600 going up to around EUR 1,200 for a doctor with decades of practice.
Health minister Ivan Uhliarik is calling on the 2,500 or so doctors to take back their resignations, nonetheless. Speaking on behalf of the doctors, trade union LOZ said they would not be intimidated by the health minister’s demand to call back the resignations, and they have sent a letter to PM Iveta Radicova to address the problems in healthcare.