UDZS Blasts Bill Enabling Health Ministry to Oust its Head

Bratislava, December 1 (TASR) - The Office for the Supervision of Health Care (UDZS) rejects the intent to change the terms under which its chair is appointed and ousted, as the changes proposed would lead to the weakening of the institution, according to a UDZS press release on Friday. The UDZS asks for the revision of the legislative amendment that says that the UDZS head should be appointed and ousted by the government again, at the recommendation of the Health Minister. "It was at the time when the UDZS was subordinated to the Health Ministry that the Slovak health care got extremely close to the concept of a select health sector only for the rich, and the dominance of a financial group grew at the expense of the state health care providers," stated the UDZS. It pointed out that it was in that era when health insurers Dovera and Apollo merged together. "The UDZS played an instrumental role in that and subsequently even approved banking loans to pay hundreds of millions of euros from public health insurance to Penta stockholders," added the text. The UDZS claimed that during the brief period of its independence, it has managed to contribute significantly to several watershed events, such as the restriction and regulation of health insurers' profits and more transparency for the health sector. mf/mcs