President signs several reforms before the holidays

On Wednesday, Slovak president Zuzana Caputova signed the national parks reform. In line with the reform, the administration of state-owned land in national parks will be transferred under the Environment Ministry. The transfer should lead to the united administration of state-owned land on the territory of national parks. The authors of the reform claim that it is ineffective for the state when two state-run organisations take care of the land in national parks. The reform will take effect as of January 15, 2022, with some of its provisions coming into force in April 2022.
 
On the same day, Zuzana Caputova also signed into law the hospital reform. The new legislation is designed to improve the shortage of doctors in regions. The state intends to motivate doctors to open new offices in the critical districts with one-time bonuses of €60,000, set to be financed under the Recovery and Resilience Plan. The reform is also intended to extend the powers of the general practitioners, nurses and cut down their red tape burden. Changes are to be introduced into practice as of 2023.
 
The Medical Labour Union, however, is disappointed by the fact that the President greenlighted the hospital reform, which it believes will exacerbate problems already bedevilling the Slovak health sector. According to the head of the Union Peter Visolajsky, Caputova failed to heed the opinions of doctors, experts, representatives of regions, towns and villages. The Union maintains that the "reform doesn't address the most overarching problem of the Slovak health: the shortage of nurses, doctors and other health personnel".