'Slovakia' Party Wants to Oust Health Minister Zuzana Dolinkova

Bratislava, April 17 (TASR) - The opposition 'Slovakia' party criticised the Health Ministry over the decision to scrap insurance dental benefits, TASR learnt on Wednesday. Because of this, the 'Slovakia' party called on KDH and Progressive Slovakia again to deliver signatures to initiate a special parliamentary session and a no-confidence motion in Health Minister Zuzana Dolinkova (Voice-SD). Earlier in the day, Dolinkova claimed that the decision to cancel the benefits hadn't been taken by the Health Ministry. "The benefits were nixed by the health insurance companies or, more precisely, it was a joint decision by the Slovak Health Insurers Association," claimed Dolinkova, adding that the initiative originated from the Finance Ministry. "The benefits were financed with the money allocated for the provision of health care. Hence, the more benefits the less money left for hospitals, outpatient departments and drugs," she explained. The Health Ministry plans to open a dialogue on a new benefits structure and wants to find other motivational factors to increase the number of preventive health checkups. mf/mcs