Governing Parties to Discuss Hospital Stratification at Coalition Council

Bratislava, August 22 (TASR) - Parties of the governing coalition want to discuss the so-called hospital stratification health-care reform at the Coalition Council meeting. The junior governing Slovak National Party (SNS) is surprised by inconsistent position of Health Minister Andrea Kalavska (a Smer-SD nominee) and Smer-SD on the issue. "We believe that they will manage to resolve it so that it is clearly presented at the Coalition Council whether Smer-SD stands behind this proposal or not. A situation like this hasn't been here yet. SNS respects Smer-SD as a coalition partner. It's important what it says at the Coalition Council. Nevertheless, SNS has been against scrapping hospitals or departments in them since the very beginning," said SNS spokesperson Zuzana Skopcova. The co-governing Most-Hid party wants to hold talks on the issue, too. "It's clear from its previous statements that Most-Hid views a thoughtfully-designed extensive hospital reform bringing high-quality health care to citizens as needful. However, it believes that this change doesn't belong to the Constitution. Now when Minister Kalavska has returned to the ministry's original intention and stratification is coming to Parliament as an ordinary law, we will hold talk with our coalition partners on this alternative," said Most-Hid spokesperson Klara Debnar. The opposition We Are Family party criticises the governing coalition for the situation around the hospital reform. "We view it as unacceptable that such a highly professional topic like the hospital stratification has become a tool of disgusting political fight within Smer-SD, with its chairman even striving to drag the opposition into it," the party's press department has told TASR. The Government hasn't yet approved the hospital stratification, but the topic hasn't been closed yet. By the end of September Kalavska should try to find the broad consensus with political parties that is necessary to adopt such a reform. Kalavska submitted the materials to the Government session through an amendment to the law on health-care providers and not as a constitutional law, as demanded by Smer-SD chief Robert Fico. Fico reiterated on Wednesday (August 21) that Smer-SD won't support the reform if it's presented to the Government as an ordinary law, at the same time telling Kalavska to adhere to their agreement and that she should reconsider her future in politics if the reform isn't approved. ko