Health Minister Zuzana Dolinkova Resigns

Bratislava, October 4 (TASR) - Health Minister Zuzana Dolinkova (Voice-SD) decided to step down from her post on Friday and plans to hand in her resignation to President Peter Pellegrini very soon, TASR learnt on Friday.

Speaking at a press conference, Dolinkova declared that she doesn't feel support for her goals and measures aimed at improving health care.

The outgoing minister also blasted the consolidation measures approved by Parliament. "With the current mindset and the passing of the consolidation package, I as the minister cannot guarantee that our health-care sector is on the right track, which means the direction we set up in the Government Manifesto. I consider the consolidation of public finances to be unacceptable and inappropriate for the Slovak health-care sector," she said.

Dolinkova reiterated that if the consolidation measures in health care are passed, there will be a risk of a mass exodus of health-care personnel. "I stated that at our joint meetings of the Voice-SD party, I also discussed it with Finance Minister Ladislav Kamenicky (Smer-SD) and told him that if this is applied to the health-care sector, it might jeopardise health care," she said.

"The absence of any professional or managerial failure on my part is evidenced partly by the fact that the government voiced its rejection of an opposition-initiated proposal for my ouster ... and considers it to be unsubstantiated and unjustified," claimed Dolinkova.

She also took potshots at the stance of Government Proxy for Investigations into COVID-19 Pandemic Management Peter Kotlar, criticising him for spreading disinformation and expressing her regret that his opinions are garnering support within the governing coalition. Dolinkova had believed that she would investigate missteps in pandemic management alongside Kotlar, but that hasn't happened. "It's not possible to reason with non-scientific facts," she noted.

Dolinkova underlined that she took over the health-care segment when it was in a disastrous state and that the problems she had to deal with were caused by her predecessors, who are now in the opposition.