Health Minister Kalavska to Resign

Bratislava, December 9 (TASR) – Health Minister Andrea Kalavska (a Smer-SD nominee) has decided to step down from her post, and her office should inform the president about her resignation on Tuesday, Health Ministry spokesperson Zuzana Eliasova informed TASR on Monday.

Kalavska had already offered her resignation on December 4 after the Government withdrew her hospital reform bill from parliamentary debate. “I’ve thought about it a lot, of course. On [December 4] I wanted to quit because I don’t find the way in which someone can treat their own minister, me, appropriate. I felt very bad,” she stated at that time. “I think that how Smer-SD has treated me shouldn’t be how a party treats its own minister,” she added.

Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini (Smer-SD) met Kalavska on December 5, stating after the meeting that he wanted her to remain in her post, as she enjoyed his full support. Pellegrini also said that he believed Kalavska would reconsider her approach and that he didn’t see it as Kalavska’s failure that the Government had withdrawn her reform. “On the contrary, I consider her to be the right person for her post,” said Pellegrini, adding that Kalavska had done an immense amount of work for her ministry and that there was still much to do until the end of the current electoral term.