STA, 4 October 2021 - While Slovenia is grappling with a shortage of doctors and long wait times for medical procedures, the Court of Audit has found the Health Ministry and the Medical Chamber of Slovenia do not know how many additional specialist doctors are needed, which ones, and how to provide them, describing the system as ineffective.

In a report released on Monday, the Court of Audit found that between the beginning of 2008 and the end of September 2019, the Health Ministry and the Medical Chamber had failed to identify the actual need for additional doctors and the reasons for shortages by specialty.

Despite public warnings about alarming work overloads, especially among general practitioners, the Health Ministry has failed to plan and implement any much-needed activities in this regard over the past 12 years, the Court of Audit said.

"It is therefore not known why doctors are overworked, given the almost 32% increase in the total number of doctors in the public health service and the increase in the annual numbers of specialists over that period, with the population numbers virtually unchanged," they added.

According to the Court of Audit, the main reason for the inefficiencies when doctors enter into the labour market is that it is not possible to identify existing medical capacities, nor to correctly assess the need for additional doctors.

Nobody knows how many effective hours of medical work per month are carried out by each doctor within different forms of medical service with different healthcare providers.

In addition, there is no proper system in place to assess the need for specific doctors, the Court of Audit said, listing the absence of a comprehensive public health service network, a lack of a precise methodology for identifying the need for doctors and the insufficient analyses of doctors' workloads.

Due to the lack of a system, the Health Ministry and the Medical Chamber have been assessing the need for doctors on an annual basis within calls for applications.

The Court of Audit noted that the two organisations had drawn up their own methodologies for each call for applications, which caused them to be largely non-transparent and arbitrary.

Thus, the Health Ministry has failed to develop realistic medical standards over the 12-year period. Instead, it left this task to the Medical Chamber and the health sector trade unions.

The current standards were drawn up in 2011 and approved by the ministry in the face of doctors' strikes, even though they were poorly drafted, the Court of Audit said.

Moreover, the court gave no confirmation that these work standards provide an adequate basis for identifying the need for additional doctors and for addressing the alleged work overload of some doctors.

The Health Ministry did implement several activities and measures, but it did so without first analysing their expected impact.

None of these measures was effective in terms of providing additional medical capacities and relieving the burden on doctors, the Court of Audit concluded.

Health Minister Janez Poklukar commented on the findings by saying that he had not read the report yet, but learned about it through the media. He stressed that the media reports on the content of the report did not constitute new findings.

Prime Minister Janez Janša also responded on Twitter, writing that this was sad, if true. He also took a swipe at the President of the Court of Audit, Tomaž Vesel.

According to Poklukar, the topic of how to meet future staffing needs in healthcare was also discussed during Monday's visit to the general hospital in Murska Sobota.

STA, 23 July 2021 - Following a report that PM Janez Janša has been holidaying in Mauritius with representatives of the largest healthcare suppliers in Slovenia for years, part of the opposition has demanded a debate in parliament. On the other hand, the prime minister's office noted that Janša had never been on the island when he served as prime minister.

It was reported by the web portal Necenzurirano on Friday that Janša has been holidaying on the exotic island east of Madagascar for almost 20 years, playing golf and socialising with lobbyist Božo Dimnik and entrepreneur Andrej Marčič.

Marčič is the owner and director of the IT company Marand, which together with affiliated companies has generated in the last 20 years more than EUR 100 million in turnover with budget users alone.

Janša's son Žan was reportedly employed in one of his companies for several years, according to Necenzurirano.

Tu je fotografija, ki dokazuje, da predsednik @vladaRS in @strankaSDS Janez Janša že od leta 2003 z največjimi dobavitelji slovenskega zdravstva dopustuje v mondenih letoviščih na otoku Mavricij v Indijskem oceanu.https://t.co/57CzJnqCIU

— necenzurirano.si (@necenzurirano_) July 23, 2021

Dimnik is also an entrepreneur and lobbyist. The company Medias International, which is owned by his daughter Diana, and which sells medical equipment and material, has generated EUR 200 million in turnover with health institutions in Slovenia.

The prime minister's office reacted to the report by telling the STA Janša had played golf in Mauritius several times, "which is publicly known and has been published many times. He was never in Mauritius during the time when he was prime minister."

Necenzurirano noted that the ruling Democrats (SDS), which is headed by Janša, had been publicly warning about systemic corruption in healthcare and forming parliamentary inquiry commissions regarding purchase of medical equipment.

This is what opposition Marjan Šarec List (LMŠ) deputy Jerca Korče also noted in her statement to the press, adding that the "SDS has been selling us for all those years the story about tentacles and corruption and cronyism in healthcare."

It is more than obvious that they have only been diverting attention from the fact that they themselves are the core of the deep state," she added.

The LMŠ will thus call a session of the parliamentary Public Finance Oversight Commission, which according to Korče should look into the deals made at the peak of the Covid-19 epidemic with "one of the golf friends of Prime Minister Janša".

The commission should also establish how the contract with the Secretariat-General of the Government had been concluded, and what impact Janša's holidaying with the supplier had on the conclusion of this contract.

According to Korče, the matter should be also examined by the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption and the Court of Audit.

The LMŠ deputy said that for someone who has been holding public offices for many years it was "important who are you spending your holidays with and what are the consequences of such holidays".

Korče added that the story featured too many connected facts that one could say that it was only a coincidence.

Violeta Tomić of the Left also announced a strong reaction from the opposition. She said that "always when Janša is in power, public money pours into the pockets of friends and people with the party membership", while at the same time they are establishing inquiry commissions and talking about zero tolerance to corruption in healthcare.

The opposition Social Democrats (SD) meanwhile said on Twitter that it now depended only on New Slovenia (NSi) and Pensioners' Party (DeSUS) "how long the National Assembly will tolerate severe corruption risks".

"Janez Janša making a mockery of the state may be ended either by elections or vote of no confidence. We can only hope that interference in the police has not hampered prosecution of corruption," the party added.

STA, 17 February 2021 - Four orthopaedic surgeons and a salesperson were sentenced to jail terms ranging from ten months to three years on Wednesday in what is the largest healthcare corruption trial in Slovenia. The Ljubljana District Court also imposed fines on them, while three of the doctors will also have their unlawfully gained assets seized.

Darko Žafran, a former sales representative at medical supplier Emporio Medical, was found guilty of giving bribes and sentenced to a year and six months in prison.

The doctors were sentenced for receiving the bribes, Robert Janez Cirman to three years, Rok Vengust to two years and two months, Vane Antolič to a year and six months, and Samo Karl Fokter to ten months.

The scandal broke out in December 2013, when police carried out house searches at almost 60 addresses around Slovenia, finding large amounts of cash and even gold bars.

Emporio Medical was at the centre of it, suspected of bribing the doctors in exchange for continuing ordering medical supplies made by a particular producer.

Urška Jurkovič, Emporio Medical's former director and co-owner, was the main witness for the prosecution, while the defence team questioned her credibility.

Neither defendant pleaded guilty when prosecutor Iztok Krumpak offered them a plea bargain in exchange for lower sentences before the trial started in January 2020.

In his closing argument last week, Krumpak said it was proven beyond a reasonable doubt the defendants had committed the criminal acts for which they were on trial.

Judge Dejana Fekonja also handed down fines totalling around EUR 59,000, ranging from EUR 6,000 to EUR 20,000.

Cirman, Fokter and Vengust will also have the unlawfully gained assets seized - around EUR 53,000, EUR 6,000 and almost EUR 33,000, respectively.

Despite finding them guilty, the judge did not go along with the prosecution's demand to temporarily strip the doctors of their licences.

She argued that they had not committed the crime in connection with medical treatment. The prosecution plans to lodge an appeal.

The judge meanwhile said "the court is not naive to think today's verdicts will change anything in the field of corruption in Slovenia. But it should be clear that anyone will be sentenced who has been proved to have asked for, accepted or given bribes, whether a state secretary, doctor, technician or warehouse employee."

She said it had been proven the doctors had had a say in deciding what medical supplies will be used, citing the example of UKC Ljubljana's Orthopaedic Clinic's spine division, which chose Emporio Medical as a supplier on the initiative of Vengust as the head of the division.

Fekonja said the doctors had received the kickbacks in various ways: as a payment of subscription fees for medical journals, a payment of registration fee for conferences, a payment of Christmas parties, deposits on bank accounts or in cash, with Žafran a middleman between the doctors and Emporio Medical.

Žafran received the bribe money from the company's former co-owners And and Urška Jurkovič on his special bank account in Croatia to distribute it to the doctors.

The defence will also appeal the verdict, with Fokter's lawyer Janez Koščak saying "the judge did not dare take a different decision because the media have done an excellent job".

He said the verdict was not based on evidence but on drawing conclusions. He said the doctors had been sentenced on the basis of notes made at Emporio Medical on which none of them had any influence. "They were sentenced on the basis of some notes made by third persons and rather diabolic drawing of conclusions by the court."

Before the trial started last year, the judge split it into several smaller ones due to as many as eleven defendants. Today's handing down of the verdicts thus brings only the first trial to an end.

The Medical Chamber stressed today it had zero tolerance towards corruption. It said however it would comment only when the verdicts became final, referring to the presumption of innocence.

If the guilty verdicts become final after the appeals, the chamber's committee for legal and ethical matters will discuss each case and inform the public of its conclusions, the chamber told the STA.

The covers and editorials from leading weeklies of the Left and Right for the work-week ending Friday, 25 September 2020. All our stories about coronavirus and Slovenia are here

Mladina: Education Ministry rebuked for situation at schools

STA, 25 September 2020 – Mladina, the left-wing weekly, criticises the government and Education Ministry for "sending the education system into the corona-autumn completely unprepared". It says in Friday's editorial that all staff at schools, not just teachers, are on the verge of exhaustion and that the system could easily collapse.

No additional teachers and kitchen or cleaning staff - vital to keep the system going in the difficult times - was hired, the idea for teaching in shifts was not examined and no plan was made to adjust teaching for individual subjects in case face masks have to be worn, says editor-in-chief Grega Repovž.

Talking with a face mask for six hours in a classroom is hard and calls for adjustment. "But how could have the ministry made the plan when it had claimed there would be no masks," the editor wonders.

"The ministry has let schools down," he says, adding that teachers who cannot wear masks for health reasons were given no concessions, and while healthcare workers are entitled to coronavirus testing, no such testing was provided for teachers.

Instead of providing masks free of charge for teachers and children, the government provided 500,000 disposable masks for the entire education system. The figure is bizzarely low, given that 200,000 children and youth go to school every day, whereas masks free of charge are said to be provided to small businesses.

Mladina says Education Minister Simona Kustec should not resign because of a minor mistake of not wearing a mask at a gala dinner, but so that somebody who is up to the challenge takes over at her office.

The entire government has failed to deliver, with the education system breaking down three weeks after the new school year started, and a similar fiasco can be observed in other systems, such as public transport, Mladina says.

It suffices to look at healthcare to see what education is in for. While doing nothing to prepare the healthcare system for the autumn, it is clear already that the government will use the situation to quickly and mercilessly privatise it. Laboratories are the first to go.

Reporter: Slovenian healthcare not public but state-run

STA, 21 September 2020 - The right-wing weekly Reporter is critical of an expected rise of the compulsory healthcare insurance, saying it signals a potential continuation of the decline of the healthcare system even under the centre-right Janez Janša government.

Speaking of continuing systemic issues, Reporter argues in its latest commentary Slovenia does not have public healthcare, but state-run healthcare that prevents access to all the doctors available in the country and to direly needed services in time.

Moreover, the system is rife with corruption, with some of those distributing the public funds also representing those vying for them, the weekly says under The Millionaires and the Victims of 'Public Healthcare'.

"People known best in the public for calls for public healthcare can afford fast and private healthcare...When they are told the waiting line for tests is six months or more, they go to a private doctor and get treatment within a few days.

"The 'small people' in whose name the former ones are raising their voice on the other hand cannot afford this. They can stand in line and hope their condition does not deteriorate drastically in the meantime. This happens after years of paying compulsory insurance in order to have access to healthcare."

All our posts in this series are here

STA, 21 September 2020 - PM Janez Janša said the government will discuss the fifth omnibus bill bringing anti-coronavirus measures this week and the bill will also bring funds to cut waiting time in healthcare. The bill will moreover feature measures designed to prevent the spring scenario, when practically all non-urgent medical services were suspended.

This is what Janša said in parliament on Monday as he answered a question posed by Anderj Rajh from the opposition Alenka Bratušek Party (SAB), who urged better access to healthcare also at a time of rising Covid-19 cases.

Janša admitted that the epidemic, even if it lasted in Slovenia a relatively short period of time, caused some problems in access to healthcare.

He fears this could happen again if people fail to respect the measures designed to stop the spread of coronavirus.

However, Janša announced the government would do all in its power for the spring situation not to repeat.

"We are in a serious situation when a debate on this is welcome," he told the National Assembly as it opened the September regular plenary.

He rejected the notion that the government had failed to act, having earmarked more than EUR 210 million for healthcare.

While there will be enough funds for the healthcare system, the problem is also organisation and capacities, he said, adding both issues were being addressed.

Rajh believes that a patient needs to get access to a medical treatment when they need it.

He proposed that parliament discuss Janša's reply to his question as part of a broader debate in parliament, and the MPs will vote on his proposal on Thursday.

A similar question came from Lidija Divjak Mirnik from the opposition Marjan Šarec List (LMŠ), who also said public healthcare rather than private should be strengthened.

But Janša said the word "public healthcare" had been abused for years. "The more we talk about supporting public healthcare, the more [doctors and nurses] run away."

He announced the government would also address this issue, but said there was a shortage of staff. He noted the EU being a common area, meaning one can seek employment around the bloc where one is better paid.

Janša also announced talks to exclude the services part of the public sector from the uniform public pay system would start soon to set up a new system.

"If this problem is not solved, waiting time in Slovenian healthcare will further deteriorate, regardless of how much funds it gets," he said.

There have been demands to exclude various professions from the public sector pay system, with doctors pushing for higher pay for years.

However, responding to the STA's query, the Ministry of Public Administration said it had nothing to add to Janša's statement.

Health Minister Tomaž Gantar meanwhile told the STA that excluding at least healthcare from the public sector pay system was feasible.

His ministry and the FIDES trade union of doctors are to set up a task force that would try to come up with different remuneration criteria, he explained.

Gantar believes that a more motivating pay system is needed, which is what the task force will try to come up with.

However, this does not mean doctors will get higher pay immediately, he said, indicating they were willing to wait with their demands for some time.

"But we absolutely don't want to postpone these problems to some undefined future," the minister added.

STA, 15 September 2020 - Slovenia's coronavirus case count passed the 3,800 mark after 82 more people tested positive on Monday, just as the number of patients hospitalised with Covid-19 rose by ten to 50, fresh data from the government show.

Ten Covid-19 patients are being treated in intensive care, one more than the day before.

The latest cases come from 2,247 tests for Sars-CoV-2. Since the start of the pandemic, Slovenia has carried out 185,220 tests.

The country has so far confirmed 3,831 coronavirus cases, of which 907 remain active, according to the tracker site covid-19.sledilnik.org.

There have been 135 Covid-19-related deaths, with no fatalities for more than ten days now.

Nurses in Maribor catch coronavirus, shortage of health staff on horizon

STA, 15 September 2020 - Eleven infections were confirmed among UKC Maribor staff at the weekend and around 30 more employees are self-isolating. This leaves the second largest hospital with a shortage of staff, while the number of patients with severe Covid-19 symptoms is increasing. Director Vojko Flis says this is worrying.

Ten nurses and one physiotherapist at the internal medicine clinic got infected from two patients brought in from the Danica Vogrinec Home for the Elderly, one of the hotspots in the country. They were taken to hospital due to an emergency which was however not related to Covid-19.

There are no doctors among the infected staff, but testing continues. Still, UKC Maribor's internal medicine clinic is now working at two-third capacity, Flis told the press in Maribor on Tuesday.

"The situation is rather unpredictable, and unmanageable when it comes to infections getting into the hospital," he said, stressing a large number of infections in the Maribor area made preventing the virus from entering the hospital very hard.

UKC Maribor reintroduced a unit for Covid-19 treatment in mid-July after it had it up and running during the first wave of epidemic, which formally ended on 31 May.

Flis said some new measures will have to be put in place if severely ill Covid-19 patients continue to arrive, including a single entry point to the hospital.

New beds for Covid-19 patients only will also have to be provided.

UKC Maribor expects to provide up to ten more beds for coronavirus intensive care. Once they are full, the Celje Hospital would start receiving Covid-19 patients.

There are currently 20 Covid-19 patients at UKC Maribor and another three in intensive care who require ventilation.

Since additional beds entail staff reorganisation, this affects the hospital's regular treatments. "We have a problem with staff, rather than space," said Flis.

UKC Ljubljana's department of infectious diseases will meanwhile activate plan B if the number of Covid-19 patients continues to rise.

This means non-coronavirus patients from two units and the main intensive care unit for non-coronavirus patients would be moved to another location in Ljubljana.

Having four Covid-19 patients and six with other diseases in intensive care "means our intensive care unit is full", Mateja Logar from the clinic said in Ljubljana on Monday.

The department's other units meanwhile had 15 Covid-19 patients and another 40 with other infectious diseases yesterday.

However, Covid-19 patients represent less than 1% of all hospitalised patients at UKC Ljubljana, the country's largest hospital.

So even if the number of Covid-19 hospitalisations rises, the hospital wants to keep the level of health services for the other patients at the same level as now.

"Today we proposed to the health minister some measures to provide staff for units where Covid-19 patients are treated or processed," UKC Ljubljana director general Janez Poklukar said yesterday.

Speaking at Tuesday's daily coronavirus briefing, the government's spokesperson Jelko Kacin labelled the epidemiological situation as serious.

He announced everything should be ready by Thursday so that the government could take additional measures, should it assess they were needed.

The national healthcare system is gearing up to launch the fourth unit for Covid-19 treatments, he said.

Apart from UKC Ljubljana and UKC Maribor, the Golnik University Clinic is currently also accepting coronavirus patients, but Covid-19 units are running out of beds.

A considerably larger number of hospitalisations is likely as early as the second half of September, said Kacin, warning the virus was also spreading in work environments, pointing to Maribor's Danica Vogrinec Home for the Elderly, the Braslovče Primary School, food-processing company Pivka Perutninarstvo, UKC Maribor and UKC Ljubljana.

UKC Ljubljana told the STA it had six infections among its staff over the past week. However, none of them caught the virus at work.

Anti-corona measures hurting Slovenia's transport

STA, 15 September 2020 - The Covid-19 pandemic has caused a major drop in Slovenia's transport. July saw a 39% decrease in ships year-on-year and zero cruise ships. Only six passengers visited Slovenia by sea, less than 1% compared to the same period last year. Ljubljana airport experienced a 90% plunge in passenger traffic.

The port of Koper, Slovenia's sole port, saw a drop in cargo volume - roughly a million tonnes of cargo were transshipped in July, down almost 35% year-on-year, said the Statistics Office on Tuesday, adding that the precaution measures had had an impact on bus and air traffic as well.

Almost two million passengers used city buses in July, a 43% decrease compared to the same month in 2019. Meanwhile, some 710,200 used intercity and international connections, down 29% year-on-year.

About 21,000 passengers passed through Ljubljana airport in July, as much as 90% fewer year-on-year. Cargo traffic at the airport was also down by 15%.

On the other hand, roads seemed to have been busier in July, with the number of new vehicles on the rise. Vehicles hitting the road for the first time in July were up by 3% year-on-year to 12,800. Among them, some 6,400 were new passenger cars, a 7% increase compared to July 2019.

STA, 10 September 2020  - The parliamentary Health Committee unanimously endorsed on Thursday amendments to the act on communicable diseases under which unvaccinated children would be barred from public or publicly financed kindergartens. The committee however threw out a provision on mandatory vaccination against seasonal flu for health workers.

The bill had been proposed by a group of 38 MPs from the ranks of three coalition parties, the Modern Centre Party (SMC), Democrats (SDS) and Pensioners' Party (DeSUS).

The bill is fast-tracked and all the additional amendments were proposed by MPs of the initiator parties. It would require all children who enrol in public kindergartens or private kindergartens co-financed by the state to get mandatory vaccination.

The same rule would apply to students of secondary and tertiary schools teaching health, education and social security courses.

Today's additional amendments specify that mandatory vaccination includes shots against measles, mumps and rubella.

The restrictions would not be imposed on children who cannot get vaccinated due to health reasons. Today, such an exemption was further specified by requiring that health records indicating the reason for missing out on vaccination would have to be submitted.

Unvaccinated children would still be allowed to enrol in primary school since primary education is mandatory under the law.

In August, when the bill was proposed, the Health Ministry said the measure was meant to prevent any unwarranted avoidance of vaccination and to protect citizens.

SMC MP Branislav Rajić, the first signatory of the proposal, said today that the provision that would require all those working in public health and social institutions to get vaccinated against seasonal influenza had been thrown out since experts and the government thought the measure was too excessive.

He nevertheless urged the government and the ZZZS health fund to provide free-of-charge flu vaccination for such workers.

Tina Bregant, the ministry's state secretary, said today that the extra amendments had made the proposal even more efficient, highlighting that the bill aimed to increase the rate of immunisation.

The National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ), Medical Chamber as well as representatives of paediatricians have expressed support for the proposed changes.

On the other hand, Jani Möderndorfer, an MP of the opposition Marjan Šarec List (LMŠ), was critical of the scrapping of the provision under which health and social workers would be obliged to get a flu shot. Experts, the ministry and coalition "do not offer any expert reason for that; all they talk about is how the measure is excessive," he said.

Rajić reiterated that the move followed the guidelines of experts. "My personal view is that a health worker who does not get a vaccine is like a visually-impaired school bus driver who does not want to wear glasses," he added.

Meanwhile, the Social Democrats (SD), New Slovenia (NSi) and the Left called for a strategy that would raise awareness about the importance of vaccination.

STA, 28 July 2020 - The National Blood Transfusion Centre (Zavod republike Slovenije za Transfuzijsko medicino) has issued a call to people who have recovered from Covid-19 to donate blood plasma, as it contains SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. The call was issued a few days ago and so far nine people have donated plasma, the centre told the STA on Tuesday.

"It is important that we provide treatment with hyperimmune convalescent plasma in Slovenia. Only through plasma ... donations containing specific antibodies carried by those who recovered from Covid-19 can we get this treatment," the centre said when inviting donors.

Irena Razboršek of the centre told the STA that nine donations had been made, adding that the project was still in the early stage. The donated plasma is currently in storage, as test results are awaited and the centre continues to follow the latest studies.

"We must be aware that we do not have much experience with Covid-19 and that all data is very fresh," Razboršek said. However, experience from the coronavirus Sars and Mers outbreaks shows that convalescent plasma could be a good treatment for Covid-19, she said.

Throughout the past months the centre has also been doing its best to keep replenishing the national blood bank.

After initial reluctance by donors, which drained the bank in March, the amount of blood donated in June is above-average for this time of year.

However, blood donors must be healthy and must not have visited in the past two weeks a country that is deemed unsafe in epidemiologic terms, which at the moment also includes Croatia, Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

The danger of complacency over COVID-19 is that the infection spreads too quickly and hospital beds, along with healthcare workers’ schedules, get full to capacity, leaving little or nothing for patients with other conditions. This raises the possibility – as seen in Italy – of the system thus focusing attention on those most likely to recover, and letting the illness take its course among others (the older, the sicker).

All our coronavirus stories are here

In short, if you’re young and in general good health, your personal safety should not be a concern. More important is the safety of those around you – the old and sick who are more likely to die from COVID-19, as well as those, yourself included, who might need an emergency trip to the hospital in the next few months. The idea, as expressed in this widely shared image, is to spread out the epidemic and not overwhelm the healthcare system, both formal and informal.

But how many hospital beds are there in Slovenia, and how do the numbers compare with other countries?

Using Eurostat data for 2017, there are a total of 2.6 million hospital beds in the EU28 (including the UK), counting those for curative care, long-term care and rehabilitative care, of which just 9,294 are in Slovenia, compared to 661,448 in Germany. Of course, Slovenia has a much smaller population, two million vs 82.8 million, so let’s look at the number of hospital beds per 100,000 people. Here Germany has 800 beds for every 100,000 people, or eight for every 1,000. In contrast, Slovenia has 449 beds for every 100,000 residents, or 4.49 for every 1,000, just between Malta and Switzerland.

The full list of countries, and beds per 100,000 people, is shown below, and note that no data was given for Albania. The Eurostat data can be explored further here.

STA, 26 February - The coalition government that is being formed by Janez Janša is planning to reintroduce military conscription, effectively secure the border, decentralise the country and increase local government funding, as well as introduce a general child benefit.

This follows from a 13-page draft coalition agreement obtained by the STA. The draft was initialled on Monday by Janša's Democrats (SDS), New Slovenia (NSi), Modern Centre Party (SMC) and Pensioners Party (DeSUS), but unofficial information indicates the parties have already signed the agreement.

Under the draft, the partners plan to gradually reintroduce conscription, which Slovenia abandoned in 2003, and a six-month military service. They also pledge to "tackle the situation" in the police force and consistently implement asylum procedures.

More on the conscription plans here

The parties have also committed to implement the Constitutional Court ruling mandating equal funding of private and public primary schools, and complete the system to fund science and research.

The per-capita funding of municipalities is to be raised to EUR 623.96 in 2020 and EUR 628.20 in 2021, which compares to EUR 589.11 and EUR 588.30, respectively, under the valid budget implementation act.

The coalition pledge to put in place a housing scheme for young families, build rental flats and establish a demographic and pension fund, headquartered in Maribor. Slovenia's second city will also host a government demographic fund. Pension rights are not to be changed.

The coalition also plan to reform social transfers policy and introduce free kindergarten for second or more children simultaneously enrolled in pre-school care and education. Family-friendly policies also include plans to introduce a universal child allowance.

The coalition pledge to secure extra financing from pubic and other funds in order to establish a financially sustainable and stable financing of the national health system and long-term care, and take effective measures to cut short waiting times in healthcare by engaging all staff resources.

The commitments include adopting legislation on long-term care and reforming the healthcare and health insurance act to change the management and functioning of the Health Insurance Institute and transform top-up health insurance.

Under the plans, employees will be able to take three days of sick leave without seeing a doctor, but only up to nine days a year. Measures are also planned to increase the vaccination rate and to set up an agency for quality of medical services.

The coalition have also committed to reduce taxes on performance bonuses and to reform the public sector wage system by pegging part of pay to performance.

Plans in the judiciary include making court rulings fully public and giving judges the option to pass dissenting opinions. Legislative changes are to affect the Judicial Council, state prosecution service, insolvency law and penal procedure.

The foreign policy agenda includes a pledge to support Western Balkan countries in their integration in the EU and NATO.

Other concrete projects include introducing e-motorway toll stickers and considering the option to transfer the Koper-Divača railway project and its manager 2TDK to the national railways operator.

The coalition would also like to reform land policies and the Farmland Fund, amend the co-operatives act and regulate production and use of cannabis in medicine and industry.

The coalition agreement sets out that the partners are taking the responsibility to manage the state according to voters' will, constitutional values, and rights and obligations as set forth in the agreement, based on the principles of equality and partnership.

The coalition pledges to focus on what connects and unites people in the country, and to advocate cooperation based on the willingness to work for the common good.

Under the draft, the SDS will be responsible for the departments of home and foreign affairs, finance, culture, which includes media, as well as the environment, diaspora and cohesion. The SMC was allocated the briefs of education, economy, public administration and justice, the NSi labour, infrastructure and defence, and DeSUS health, agriculture and the demographic fund.

This is the first in a series on the new government’s plans, to be posted in the next few days, with the whole set here