Good news for everyone (literally) who doesn’t like to spend half a day visiting their GP so that they can get a doctor’s line to see some specialist, because as of today this is no longer required.
The change was made by the government, which passed a revision to the Act on Health Insurance Companies, thereby cancelling this requirement, and so the waiting rooms at GPs should also now be less crowded.
Health minister Ivan Uhliarik referred to the old system as a senseless requirement, which often leads to patients being almost bullied around as they have to wait hours at two doctors instead of just one. Now if you are sure of certain symptoms and know the kind of specialist you should be seeing, you can just visit them directly.