The focus of the residential program, which was formed under the responsibility of the Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic, is the support of further training of health professionals in specialization fields general medicine and paediatrics. The Resident Programme responds to the lack of general practitioners and pediatricians in the regions, with the aim of reducing their age average, improving education in general medicine and paediatrics, and increasing the quality and availability of healthcare in primary contact. A successful pilot project was funded by the European Union in 2014 and 2015 and confirmed that this form is an effective tool for complementing and stabilising doctors in both specialization fields. This project continues in 2016, from the state budget EUR 7.4 million is allocated to residents from all over the Slovak Republic, including the Bratislava Self-Governing Region. The contracts are signed with three medical faculties - Jesseni Medical Faculty Martin, Faculty of Medicine UPJŠ Košice, Slovak Medical University Bratislava. The aim of the project is to create such educational conditions for residents in individual regions of Slovakia, which allow them to undertake specialization training in accordance with the requirement of the subsequent even distribution of doctors of both specializations throughout the Slovak Republic, so the support will continue to be distributed proportionately to educational institutions and health institutions throughout the Slovak Republic. The Ministry of Health confirms the validity of the declared criteria for candidates for inclusion in the resident programme. They are graduates of medical faculties, doctors enrolled in a specialization study in general medicine and paediatrics, doctors enrolled in a study in another specialization field, who decide to change the specialization field. The highest age limit for inclusion in the resident programme is 40 years, another essential criterion remains the interest to work in one of the two specialization fields in Slovakia. Benefits for graduates of the resident programme are indisputable, as a number of changes in practice relate to the extension of competences for doctors of first contact, which is also a prerequisite for interesting work as well as an appropriate financial evaluation. Due to the high age average of doctors of both specializations, there is real job security throughout Slovakia; the passing of the resident program offers the possibility of independent outpatient practice and independence. Financial support from the Structural Funds

The EU, as well as the change in educational design The Ministry of Health has achieved a significant increase in interest in study in both specialization fields. In 2014 and 2015, nearly 200 young doctors were admitted to the resident programme. Due to the dynamic expansion of the competences of general doctors, which since 2013 the Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic has gradually put into practice, there is currently a high incentive for long-term retention of graduates of the resident program in the field of office in Slovakia. Knowledge is focused on practice and allows graduates to enter the general health care system immediately and fully. The Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic guarantees professional and financial support for the resident program. At the same time, it declares an interest in cooperation with higher territorial units and professional companies to create favourable conditions for the transfer of residents to outpatient practice.