EU Countries to Help Slovakia with Informatization of Health Sector

The informatization of the health sector (eHealth) is to speed up significantly, as Slovakia is participating in the pilot project eHealth – Electronic Health Sector based on a narrow cooperation with EU countries in this field, informs the web site of the Health Ministry. Communication and direct collaboration with European countries more experienced in this area will help Slovakia accelerate its progress in eHealth and implement the latest knowledge in it. The project rests upon the cooperation of twelve European states in the electronic exchange of patient data. The concrete outcome of this project will serve, for instance, doctors asked by foreign patients for health care services with little or no information of patient health history. The doctors will be able to access the necessary information through the European-wide communication system, thus arriving at an expert decision on medical treatment.



News from Slovakia :



Slovakia Does Not Top EU Unemployment Chart for the First Time



For the first time, the Slovak Republic did not record the highest joblessness rate in the European Union in June, as Spain led the chart. A survey by Eurostat, the EU’s Statistical Office, shows the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in Slovakia unchanged at 10.5 percent in June, but Spain reported growth up to 10.7 percent, which pushed the country up to the very top of the chart. On the contrary, Denmark and the Netherlands showed the lowest unemployment rates in the EU, of 2.6 percent and 2.8 percent (respectively).



Guard Unit for Afghanistan is Trained, will Leave in September



In September, 45 soldiers will leave Slovakia to guard the Tarin Kowt military base in the Afghani province of Uruzgan, within the ISAF operation. The guard unit will operate in Afghanistan for the first time. Unlike engineers, its soldiers will be deployed to places where there is fighting. President Ivan Gasparovic and Defense Minister Jaroslav Baska visited the Lest military training zone to inspect their training on Thursday. According to Baska, the army is providing the soldiers with the best possible preparation. The unit will not include women; however. Two more guard units should go to Afghanistan next year.



International Youth Gathering Participants Arrive in Tatranska Lomnica



The first 400 participants arrived at the Eurocamp site of the International Youth Gathering Rysy 2008 in Tatranska Lomnica on Thursday, Rysy Poprad-Tatry Club chairman Jan Pavlovcin reported on the same day. Organisers of the event for alpine tourism enthusiasts, which started more than a 50 years ago, expect as many as 800 participants from Slovakia and abroad. The climb up Rysy peak (2,499 metres) and other tourist activities are scheduled for Friday and Saturday,” said Pavlovcin. On Friday, volunteer work aimed at fixing a fence in the parking area in Tatranska Lomnica is also due to start.



Bratislava Mayor and Slovak MEP Discuss Issues Concerning Capital



Mayor of Bratislava Andrej Durkovsky met Christian Democrat (KDH) MEP Miroslav Mikolasik on Thursday for talks on topical issues concerning the capital. Some studies of the international High Speed Rail Network TGV linking Paris with Munich, Vienna and Budapest do not view Bratislava as part of this train corridor, Mikolasik told Durkovsky, without providing further detail. The mayor stressed that the TGV project is favoured by the capital city, the Transport Ministry and Slovak Railways. The MEP alerted Durkovsky to the younger age at which young people are becoming drug addicts. The mayor said that Bratislava City Council is considering reinstating a detox centre that would work with a medical centre on prevention activities vis-a-vis youth.



Parliament’s Finance Committee to Demand Deed of Gift from LS-HZDS



Parliament’s Finance, Budget and Currency Committee is dealing with a present worth 1,660 Euro that Coalition LS-HZDS was given by Transpetrol in 2007, committee chairman Jozef Burian (Smer-SD) said on Thursday in response to revelations from the Fair-Play Alliance. Burian confirmed that the committee will first demand a deed of gift from LS-HZDS in order to verify and identify the company that gave the gift to the party of Vladimir Meciar. If it turns out that it’s a company with state participation, the committee will decide on how to sanction LS-HZDS at its first session in September.



Police Urge Prosecutors to Charge British DJ With Child Pornography



The Slovak police have urged the Prosecutor’s Office to charge British DJ Chris Denning with child pornography, it was revealed on Thursday. ”A representative from the Office for the Fight Against Organised Crime filed a proposal with the Prosecutor’s Office on July 11, 2008 to charge Christopher D. The former BBC Radio disc jockey was brought to Slovakia from Great Britain by Interpol in February. He has admitted producing pornographic films in Slovakia, but says that the boys who appeared in the movies claimed to be over 18 years of age.



Ministers to Have Computers in front of them Instead of Papers



The Cabinet ministers will no longer use papers, but just computers from September. The Cabinet Office proposed changing the rules of order and a relevant directive as of September 14. Until now, every material discussed by ministers was printed out in 40 copies, while now it will be only five copies for archival purposes. Not only financial, economic and environmental impact, influence on employment and the business environment will be judged, but also the impact on informatization of society. The interdepartmental review will also be carried out in electronic form. The draft will only be published on the portal of legislative rules https://It.justice.gov.sk, launched by the Justice Ministry on June 1.



Volunteers to Map Chamois Population in Low Tatras



As of August 3 international volunteers will be monitoring the behaviour of chamois and their contacts with predators such as wolves and bears in the Low Tatras, Matthias Hammer, founder of Biosphere Expeditions project told journalists on Thursday in Bratislava. Another goal of Biosphere Expeditions Slovakia 2008 is to map the population of chamois in this location. During the two weeks the two 12-member groups will work in rotation in the Low Tatras. The researchers plan to distribute the results of their findings to Slovak organisations of nature protection as well.



US War Hero of Slovak Origin Given US Citizenship in Memoriam



Sgt. Michael Strank of the US Navy, Slovak, who became famous as one of the six members of the US Army to hoist the US flag on Mt. Suribachi during the battle for Iwo Jima, has been posthumously given a certificate of US citizenship, the US Embassy in Slovakia has reported. Although Strank, who was born in the Slovak village of Jarabina (Presov region) and emigrated to the USA in 1922, became a US citizen as early as 1935 through the naturalisation of his father, he was never given a certificate on citizenship. The reason was that the records of US immigration authorities registered Strank as a man born in Pensylvania. At the time of the famous photograph ”Erecting of Flag at Iwo Jima” (photographer Joe Rosenthal, February 19, 1945), Strank had been serving in the US Navy for more than five years. He died in the battle at Iwo Jima less than two weeks later.