The petitioner shall: Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic
Name of the petition:
Vranov nad Topľou District Petition for the maintenance of an acute hospital
We ask the Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic for the preservation of AKÚTÉ NEMOCNICE in the district of Vranov nad Topľou with the provision of health care at the level of the regional hospital.

It's quare: No.
Number of persons supporting the petition: 32 985
Date of delivery: 20.10.2021
Date of equipment: 13.01.2022
Equipment: § 5 (6) of Law No 85/1990 Coll. on petition law as amended - not evaluated
Reason for equipment:
On 20.10.2021, a petition entitled "Pritary of the Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic" (hereinafter referred to as "MZ SR") was received to the mail office of the Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic (hereinafter referred to as "MZ SR"). – Conservation petition acute hospital in the district of Vranov nad Topľou, by letter of 20.10.2021, submitted by the Chairman of the Petitions Committee and by a person appointed to represent him in contact with a public authority (hereinafter referred to as "the representative'). The letter of 20.10.2021 stated that it supported the petition in question 32 985 persons signature sheets in paper form.
The Office of the Minister of Health referred the received documentation of a material nature within the meaning of the order of organisation of the Slovak Ministry of Health in the current version to the equipment of the Unit of Control, Supervision and Complaints (hereinafter referred to as "ÚKDaS") in cooperation with the Section of the Reform Agenda.
ÚKDaS as organizational unit of MZ SR within the meaning of the order of organisation of the MZ SR in the current version in fact competent for the handling of petitions within the meaning of Act No 85/1990 Coll. on petition law as amended (hereinafter referred to as the Act on petition law) also in conjunction with the factually relevant organizational services of MZ SR accepted the covering letter together with annexes. The ÚKDaS, after assessing the material and formalities of the documentation required by the Act on petition law, found that the submission designated as a petition for the maintenance of an emergency hospital in the district of Vranov nad Topľou, together with the signatures signed by 32 985 persons who supported the petition in question, is a petition according to the feeling of the law registered in the Special Report of the Registry. in 2021 as a petition under sp. zn. Pet 10/2021, renumbered in 2022 to Pet 1/2022.

In view of the fact that the petition is in the nature of the application, the Ministry of the Slovak Republic is obliged to make a petition within the meaning of Article 5 (6) of the Law on Petitions, according to which, if it appears from the content of the petition that the petition cannot be dealt with under paragraph 5, the public authority competent to handle the petition containing the application or proposal shall assess its content and send a written reply, together with a statement of reasons, to the representative within the period referred to in paragraph 5. Pursuant to Paragraph 5 (5) of the Law on Petitions in particularly complex cases, the competent public authority shall inform the representative in writing that the petition will be made within 60 working days at the latest. At the same time, given the fact that more than 10 000 persons supported the petition by their signatures, MZ SR is obliged to proceed with its settlement also under the provision of § 5d (1) of the Act on petition law, according to which if the petition is supported by at least 10 000 persons, it will be discussed by the competent public authority with a representative and a petition committee for the whole territory of the Slovak Republic. In view of the above, the Ministry of the Slovak Republic, as a public authority responsible for handling the petition in question in a separate letter dated 10.11.2021, in accordance with the provisions of § 5 in conjunction with Section 5d of the Act on petition law, informed the representative that he would complete the petition within 60 working days of its receipt at the latest. Pursuant to § 5d (1) of the Law on Petitions, representatives of MZ SR discussed the petition in question with the representative and members of the petition committee online on 5.01. 2022.
We would like to begin by saying that, at the beginning of summer 2021, after the first stage of analysis, we started communication with hospitals about the planned Optimal Network of Hospitals. We have met with hospitals to listen to the specifics of individual hospitals and regions. We then took the findings into account in the results of the analyses of the current hospital network and we intend to take them into account when modelling the optimal network. We also attended such a meeting with representatives of the hospital in Vranov nad Topľou.
The petition of the citizens of the region in the vicinity of Vranov nad Topľou is taken with full seriousness, the incentives mentioned in the petition and the suggestions made during the negotiations will be addressed and all the factors mentioned above will be taken into account in the creation of an optimal hospital network and the categorization of institutional care.
At the same time, we would like to point out the fact that the law on the classification of institutional health care and on the amendment of certain laws, which was approved on 14.12.2021 by the members of the National Council of the Slovak Republic, provides that the optimal network of hospitals will only be completed at the end of 2022. First, the conditions for categorizing institutional healthcare must be clearly defined. For these reasons, it is not possible to take a position on specific hospitals and their position in the network.
Our aim is to improve the quality of healthcare provision throughout Slovakia, but we also want to support what already works well. Our aim is to support and maintain departments that ensure quality health care and at the same time demand for given healthcare in the region.
During the following year, before the optimal network of hospitals is finalized, we plan to communicate with the representatives of individual hospitals and thus with the representatives of the hospital in Vranov nad Topľou to intensify and together to discuss in detail the input data, the spectrum of performances, the problems of regions, etc.
By sending a written reply to the representative of MZ SR he considers the petition to be equipped in accordance with § 5 (6) of the Act on petition law.

Place: Bratislava– Date:17 January 2022