Starting 15 June, the Slovenj Gradec General Hospital is closing part of its internal medicine department, reducing capacity by 10 beds due to an acute shortage of medical staff.

The situation has become critical: both the internal medicine and paediatric departments currently have no heads of department. Several doctors have recently left for outpatient health centres, where working conditions are more favourable — daytime shifts only, without night duties, weekends, or holiday work.

The remaining staff are working under enormous pressure, with some physicians holding multiple positions simultaneously. The problem is compounded by shortcomings in the organization of the emergency care centre, where family physicians are expected to provide cover. In the Koroška region, however, this system functions only during nights and weekends.

Former head of the internal medicine department, Klemen Mojškerc, who stepped down last autumn because of the staffing crisis, warned: “If the hospital does not close itself down, no one else will need to do it.”

Doctors are urging local authorities to take a more active role in finding solutions to the staffing crisis.

Source: rtvslo.si