Health Minister Vili Beros presented a bill of amendments to the Healthcare Act in the Parliament on Thursday and the Law on Compulsory Health Insurance, asserting that this was the framework for structural, not cosmetic health reform.

Addressing MPs, Beros said that the proposed changes emphasize the principle of quality in healthcare and that the reform is aimed at the prevention and early detection of diseases.

“It is preventive examinations and active healthcare that have an impact on increasing healthy years of life, not proximity to a hospital or the number of hospital beds,” he pointed out.

Strengthening preventive health measures through amendments to both laws gives every citizen the opportunity to actively take care of their health with the support of the health system.

A rulebook is being introduced that will define the medically acceptable timeframe for the implementation of healthcare measures, which is one of the ways to better manage waiting lists. “We know that availability of health services is important, but timeliness is equally important,” said Beros.

It is also important to arrange the organisational structure of the health system, which is a prerequisite for the personnel and financial sustainability of the system, he said.

Reform does not mean centralisation of hospital system

The minister said that the implementation of reform measures does not mean the centralisation of the hospital system, but a clear organisational structure at all levels of healthcare.

“At the basic level of healthcare, the current situation is such that competencies, obligations and tasks, as well as responsibilities, are so mixed that there are no clear boundaries and responsibilities,” he said.

That is why significant debts are created, which institutions cannot solve through their regular operations, just as they cannot solve waiting lists either. “This has led us to the fact that financial rehabilitation of healthcare has become the rule, not the exception,” he said.

Beros said that politicising health topics and putting particular interests above the well-being of patients and employees of the health system is not a good path and certainly does not lead to the necessary reform changes.

Opposition slams bills

Before Beroš presented the two bills related to the reform of the healthcare system, both the left and the right opposition criticised them, claiming that it is not about reform but about its attempt, namely “robbing Peter to pay Paul.”