Sasko: Health Care Needs More Funding; This Year's Budget was Tight

Bratislava 18 September (TASR) - Health Minister Kamil Sasko (Voice-SD) said at the 2025 Slovak Health Care conference that health care will need more funds next year even though the ministry is meeting this year's strict consolidation budget without additional financing. Sasko also noted plans to tie new resources to specific, measurable results. "The fact is that between 2020 and 2023, spending on health care increased by more than 60 percent. The problem is that it was not linked to any measurable indicators," he added. He criticised the fact that increased spending in recent years — mainly on health-care staff salaries, drug policies and covering hospital debts — wasn't tied to concrete results. He emphasised that this year the budget was managed without additional financing. Looking ahead, he plans to link a larger portion of spending to measurable indicators and to complete in-depth audits at hospitals. He added that discussions with the European Commission (EC) on resolving hospital debts are ongoing. "Importantly, a working group has been established at both my own level and that of the EC, in which specific steps are being rigorously monitored," he explained. He also noted that a project to centralise the management of state hospitals has been launched, involving 19 directors, with monitoring and management committees coordinating progress across six levels. The minister clarified that the 2026 budget will need to account for hundreds of millions of euros in additional funds. Priorities include stabilising nursing staff, categorising innovative medicines and medical devices, and reducing waiting times. Sasko emphasised the need to continue investing in hospital infrastructure. He insisted that projects in Banska Bystrica, Martin and Poprad should be completed on schedule and reach the third construction phase by 2026. "I'm cautiously optimistic and hopeful that we'll succeed," he said, also announcing a planned investment in Kosice. tim/df/mf