Today, Minister of Health Zuzana Dolinková discussed the stabilisation of medical staff in the Slovak health sector with Minister of Education Tomáš Drucker. Both resorts will cooperate on steps to increase the number of Slovak medics in our universities and in the education of nurses.
Stabilising medical staff is a priority of the current government. Education and Health Resorts will create working teams - one for higher education and the other for nurse education. These working groups will meet at least twice a month. According to health sector estimates, there are about 2,000 doctors and 4,000 nurses missing in the sector.
Ministers discussed ways to increase the number of medical practitioners in medical faculties. So far, we're looking for solutions to adjust the ratio of Slovak and foreign students in medical faculties in the first step, and at the same time we're looking for resources in the state budget to fund the income gap that foreign students would pay if we were to adjust that ratio at medical faculties,Dolinka said. On average, about 627 students from Slovakia and 362 students from abroad take part in our three medical faculties. We have already discussed with medical faculties that about 100 – 150 foreign students could be transformed into those Slovak students, informed the Minister of Education. These changes would require approximately €2.5 million.
As the Minister for Health said with regard to nurses, one of the aspects to attract them to the system is the salaries that increased last year, but there are still reserves The second thing is the motivation to work in the Slovak health sector, it is certainly also material technical conditions, and relations in the workplace. If we encourage and create positive conditions for nurses to want to work in Slovak health, we can do something about it. Secretary Dolink thinks. At the same time, it considers it important to motivate pupils already in primary schools and recruit to choose their health work.
