MZ SR declares keeping available APS in all regions

Minister for Health Zuzana Dolinková and management of MZ SR discussed with representatives of Slovakia todayj the primary paediatric care company of the Slovak Medical Society (SSPPS SLS) and the Association of Towns and Villages of Slovakia on providing outpatient emergency services for children and adolescents across Slovakia. They agreed that maintaining available daily outpatient care for children is crucial and discussed options for continuity and availability of outpatient emergency care (APS).
Paradoxically, this was the first ever meeting with ZMOS representatives on this issue. Closest is the management of MZ SR plans to meet representatives of pediatricians, ZMOS, VÚC and mayors of Slovak cities, in which the fixed points of APS for children are to be consolidated during this year.
One of the solutions discussed here is the establishment of complementary APS points in regions where there are enough paediatricians. I am intensively looking in cooperation with pediatricians and representatives of ZMOS solutions to ensure available APS across Slovakia. It is a priority for me to provide our children with day-to-day and emergency outpatient care, wherever we have enough pediatricians, said the Minister for Health, who highlighted the constructive dialogue of stakeholders.
ZMOS President Joseph God's meeting was appreciated by Joseph. In his view, ZMOS is aware that not every APS point can be maintained due to the lack of doctors. We agreed that our common goal is primarily to maintain the primary primary network of paediatric offices. What matters is that we have enough pediatricians who will work in outpatients and will not be overloaded, but will be able to provide services to hundreds of thousands of children from individual towns and surrounding villages, He emphasized God.
President of SSPPS SLS Elena Prokop pointed out that due to the lack of pediatricians and their high average age, it was essential to adjust the fixed points of outpatient emergency care in order to maintain health care for children.

In order to stabilise paediatric outpatient care in Slovakia and to maintain the functioning of emergency services for children of MZ SR last year, the decree amended the fixed points APS for children and adolescents. The Decree gradually regulates in three stages the network of children's emergency services from the original 61 to 40 until the end of 2024. Since 1 October 2023 six fixed points of APS have been deleted, which have been without an operator, since no one has shown any interest in operating them. A further ten APS points for children should be launched from July 2024 and the third phase, which concerns five APS points, is scheduled from November 2024. The aim of the transfer of fixed points APS was primarily the concentration of doctors into functional teams and at the same time to bring them to hospitals to ensure laboratory examinations, imaging methods and subsequent hospital care.