“Since its establishment, BIONT has faced the problem of financial limits set by health insurance companies below the actual capacity of its cutting-edge facility and the real demand for specialist examinations. The uncovered losses from previous years, which the state-owned company has reported since 2007, restricted its ability to apply for financial support from public sources. As a result, BIONT, as a company in difficulty, was unable to draw on public funding for scientific research activities,” explained the President of the national auditors when presenting the audit conclusions. In addition to providing combined PET (positron emission tomography) and CT (computed tomography) examinations, BIONT is also the sole producer of radiopharmaceuticals in Slovakia, covering approximately three quarters of the national market.

The auditors returned to the company to verify how the recommendations from the 2018 audit had been implemented in practice. At that time, auditors had pointed out imbalances in the contracts with Dr. Magnet. In the past, the contractual terms had been disadvantageous for the state-owned company BIONT, although the company’s management succeeded in partially improving the situation in recent years. Nevertheless, unfavourable conditions remained, for example in the lease agreement for the material and technical equipment of the nuclear medicine department. Following the latest audit, the SAO recommends that the Health Committee of the National Council of the Slovak Republic require the Ministry of Education, Research, Development and Youth of the Slovak Republic – given that BIONT’s most significant activity by volume is the provision of healthcare – to initiate its replacement in the company’s shareholder structure by the Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic, which is primarily responsible for public health policy.

Healthcare was also the subject of an expert commentary prepared by the Office’s analysts. Using data from the Social Insurance Agency, SAO analysts examined how many employers Slovak doctors work for. The Agency’s database contains more than 21,000 doctors, of whom 42% worked simultaneously for more than one employer in 2024. Nearly 900 doctors received monthly income from four or more employers at the same time. The average number of employers for whom doctors worked concurrently was 1.62. “This figure is comparable with the average workload of doctors across Europe, and we did not identify any significant differences between the number of positions held by doctors working in public or private healthcare facilities,” stated Ľ. Andrassy, adding that forensic doctors, hygienists and medical assessors most frequently had multiple employers. Analysts also identified extreme cases in which concurrent employment was highly unusual. One example involved a doctor receiving a salary from a regional hospital while also earning thousands of euros from more than five additional healthcare facilities. Another doctor worked at three healthcare institutions and three educational institutions while simultaneously managing another organisation. The SAO also describes a case in which a doctor received monthly income from as many as seven outpatient clinics. 

“The Office’s analysis does not assess whether doctors holding multiple positions each month is either good or bad. Our aim was to map the issue, and it became clear that the Ministry of Health should adjust the system to prevent extreme cases of concurrent employment while also addressing the practice whereby many doctors at university or teaching hospitals are not only physicians, but also lecturers,” explained the President of the auditors.

In the first quarter of 2026, the Office published 14 audits covering more than 50 audited entities. At the same time, the results of three expert analyses were presented. The SAO considers healthcare to be one of its priority areas, and in addition to the analysis and follow-up audit of BIONT, conclusions from three further healthcare audits were presented during the past quarter. This time, national auditors focused on the financing system and subsequent settlement of joint diagnostic and treatment units, as well as medicine policy, with the audit findings forwarded to the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Slovak Republic. Auditors also returned to the National Health Information Centre after three years to verify whether the situation regarding healthcare registries – which should generate reliable data for state healthcare policy-making – had improved. The results of these audits complement findings from more than 20 previous audit actions, clearly showing that the most seriously ill patient in Slovakia is the healthcare system itself. The main systemic problem remains the lack of clarity regarding how public funds in healthcare are being spent.

Auditors also returned to the National Motorway Company to re-examine the electronic toll collection system, which has long been an example of uneconomical and inefficient management of public funds. The latest audit confirmed that the state paid more than €250 million for the construction and launch of a toll system that it still does not own, while there remains a risk that part of it may have to be paid for again. In the area of transport, regional bridges were once again subject to audit. While the condition of regional roads in Slovakia has slightly improved in recent years, the technical condition of bridges has significantly deteriorated. In 2024, almost 40% of bridges fell into the three worst categories out of seven levels of technical condition. Auditors also presented the results of an audit of railway reconstruction projects financed under the Recovery and Resilience Plan. The audit showed that none of the audited projects had been completed within the originally planned timeframe and that key projects had not been adequately prepared.

The Ministry of Culture failed in the management of major projects and its oversight was ineffective, auditors concluded following another audit. Problems were particularly evident in large investment projects, where responsibility for managing the restoration of Krásna Hôrka Castle and Spiš Castle was transferred by the ministry to subordinate institutions without ensuring its own oversight. Auditors also examined fourteen towns and municipalities in eastern Slovakia that sold shares in the East Slovak Water Company for approximately one third of their nominal value. During the past quarter, state-owned enterprises again came under the scrutiny of national auditors, including Aircraft Repair Company Trenčín and the Ministry of Interior’s Motor Vehicle Repair Company. Another audit revealed that neither the state nor local governments have sufficient control over associations handling waste management. An audit in the town of Humenné also focused on municipal financial management and issues related to district heating systems.