Opposition Criticises Proposed Strategy for Stabilising Health-care Workforce

Bratislava, 15 April (TASR) - The opposition Progressive Slovakia (PS), Christian Democrats (KDH), and 'Slovakia' parties have criticised the draft National Strategy for the Stabilisation and Management of Human Resources in Health Care until 2040, which the government approved on Wednesday, saying that the strategy lacks specific measures, TASR has learnt from the statements made to reporters on Wednesday by MPs Oskar Dvorak (PS), Peter Stachura (KDH), and Marek Krajci ('Slovakia'-'For the People' caucus). Health Minister Kamil Sasko (Voice-SD) rejects the criticism. According to Dvorak, the document can't be called a strategy, but rather a statistical handbook. "The National Health Information Centre could have easily published this; it's 400 pages of graphs. I don't see any answers there on how they intend to steer the system," he noted. Stachura pointed out that many similar analyses have already been produced and mostly ended up in the "drawers". "This is such a massive analysis that it didn't even make it into our inboxes because it's over 480 pages long. That's just absurd. Hey, here we need to state what our short-term goals are, how we want to stabilise the nursing staff in particular, how we want to ensure that nurses who graduate from our schools start working here and stay here to work," stated the lawmaker. Krajci views the draft strategy as a "little charade". He noted that the previous government had also worked on similar material in 2022. "Yes, it didn't make it to the government, that's true, but I was surprised that Minister Kamil Sasko seemed as if he didn't even know about it and acted as if he had produced something here. So again, that information has been here for a long time, and we need to start doing something specific, and unfortunately, we haven't heard about those specific steps," he said. Health Minister Kamil Sasko rejects the criticism, emphasising that the draft strategy includes specific measures. "Everything on which those 47 steps are based was approved for the first time on the basis of relevant data broken down by region and individual professions, and was evaluated not by me, but by the European Commission and the OECD as an example of best practice," he stated, adding that the measures will be reviewed annually based on qualified data. According to him, the strategy will result in specific implementation plans with measurable indicators that will be reviewed annually. Slovakia has long faced a critically low number of health-care professionals. If it is to reach the average standard of European Union countries by 2040, it will need to add approximately 77,000 health-care professionals to the labour market, with nurses accounting for about half and doctors for about a quarter, stated the Health Ministry in the draft National Strategy for the Stabilisation and Management of Human Resources in Health Care until 2040, which the government approved on Wednesday. In the document, the ministry presents a proposal for specific measures to stabilise the workforce and retain health-care professionals within the system. The proposed measures are divided into three categories: short-term, medium-term, and long-term. For each measure, it has designated responsible parties and a general timeline. The ministry noted that the proposed solutions will only be effective if they are accompanied by health-care management reform and appropriate funding. It hasn't yet quantified the financial costs of the individual measures. am