Slovenia is considering hiring foreign medical staff, especially doctors, to deal with under-staffing at Slovenia's hospitals, Health Minister Andrej Brucan revealed as he began a tour of Slovenian hospitals and health care centres on Tuesday.
Speaking about possible ways to deal with the shortage of doctors, Brucan revealed "talks are already underway with competent institutions in the Czech Republic and Slovakia". He suggested that the "importing" of medical staff from the EU was a real possibility.
Brucan's comments came as he visited the Ptuj Hospital and Ptuj Health Care Centre, the first leg on a tour of Slovenian health institution whose aim is to check the current state of the Slovenian public health system.
Speaking to the press at the Ptuj Hospital in NE Slovenia, where the minister officially launched the tour, Brucan said that he wishes to be briefed with the problems facing health care in Slovenia.
Pointing out that last year's establishment of the Maribor Faculty of Medicine is expected to alleviate the shortage to a certain degree, Brucan said Slovenia was seriously considering "importing doctors".
Brucan also revealed the new government hopes to draft new health care legislation, which is to support the development of private services, by 2006.
Despite this new legislation promoting private health care services, Brucan promised that this will not make health care less accessible to lower income earners.
The goal is to keep the current accessibility of health care services for all, Brucan said, adding that a new scheme to help the poorest with their health insurance is in the making.
Brucan also denied recent suggestions that the government was looking to limit granting licenses for private practices. According to Brucan, the government is only thinking of limiting licenses for pathology services.
The minister also said the government will have to better define the relationship between public and private health care as he was presented with opinions of both branches in Ptuj.
Brucan also visited the Murska Sobota Hospital on Tuesday, where he was told the hospital, which employs 100 doctors, would need a further 30 to 36 doctors to function normally.
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