The threat of a mass collective resignation by doctors is growing, with the Slovak Medical Chamber (SLK) now saying it is the only possible way to save the Slovak healthcare system.
The SLK gives its full backing to the doctors trade union LOZ in its campaign for mass resignations and its efforts to change the way the system works. The SLK issued a statement today in which it also expresses the belief that these efforts will produce a change in the end.
The statement criticises how the government fails to appreciate the work of doctors properly and instead is just aggravating the situation with its recent steps, which include the closure of various departments in already overstretched hospitals.
The clock is ticking as over 2,000 doctors already seem resolute to hand in their notices collectively at the end of this month. That is about one third of all the doctors working in hospitals and so the effect could be disastrous.
Health minister Ivan Uhliarik is treating the threat as just that, a threat, still believing the doctors won’t actually do it, while claiming they are putting their personal demands before the welfare of patients.