Richard Raši (born 2 April 1971) is a Slovak

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

and

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

who served as Slovakia's Deputy Prime Minister for Investments and Information. A member of the

Voice – Social Democracy Voice – Social Democracy ( sk, Hlas – sociálna demokracia, HLAS–SD) is a social-democratic political party in Slovakia. The party was founded in June 2020 and officially registered by the Ministry of the Interior in September 2020. The enti ...

( sk, Hlas – sociálna demokracia) political party, Raši previously served as Mayor of the city of Košice. He also served from 3 June 2008 until 8 June 2010 as

Minister of Health A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare and other social security services. Some governments have separate ministers for mental health. Coun ...

in the First cabinet of

Robert Fico Robert Fico (; born 15 September 1964) is a Slovak politician who served as the prime minister of Slovakia from 2006 to 2010 and from 2012 to 2018 (when he resigned). He has been the first leader of the Direction – Social Democracy (SMER-SD) ...

Early life and education

Born 2 April 1971 in Kosice, Raši studied medicine at the Medical faculty at the

University of Pavol Jozef Šafárik A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

from 1989, receiving his medical degree in 1995. After specializing as a

trauma surgeon Trauma surgery is a surgical specialty that utilizes both operative and non-operative management to treat traumatic injuries, typically in an acute setting. Trauma surgeons generally complete residency training in general surgery and often fel ...

he received his

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in the field of

public health Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the det ...

at the

Slovak Medical University The Slovak Medical University in Bratislava - SMU ( sk, Slovenská zdravotnícka univerzita v Bratislave) is a state "college of university type" seated in Bratislava, Slovakia. It was created by law from 25 June 2002 with effect from 1 September ...

in 2004, six years later he received his PhD degree in the same field at

Technical University of Košice Technical University of Košice (Slovak: ''Technická univerzita v Košiciach'') is the second largest university of technology in Slovakia. University structure * Faculty of Mining, Ecology, Process Control and Geotechnology, * Faculty of Ma ...

Career

Immediately after graduation, he started work as a trauma surgeon intern at the University Hospital of L. Pasteur in Kosice. By 2004, he had been promoted to Vice-director of that hospitals clinic of

traumatology In medicine, traumatology (from Greek ''trauma'', meaning injury or wound) is the study of wounds and injuries caused by accidents or violence to a person, and the surgical therapy and repair of the damage. Traumatology is a branch of medicine. ...

. From 2007 he worked as the head of the Bratislava Faculty Hospital, until 2008, when he was appointed Minister of Health. In between the years, Rasi spent several mFromonths on internships abroad, working in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, Sweden and Switzerland among others.

Minister of Health

Raši was appointed as Minister of Health on 3 June 2008, by president Ivan Gasparovic. This happened the same day as his predecessor Ivan Valentovič resigned. Valentovič had long been under severe pressure to resign over his handling of the controversial health insurance reform as well as the general state of the Slovak health system. His relationship with the president had been strained, and in the end, it was speculated that the prime minister

had in fact fired him, although this was denied by Fico. After Raši assumed the post, he inherited a department under heavy public scrutiny, and was criticized for his lack of political experience. Opposition MP Viliam Novotny from the

Slovak Democratic and Christian Union – Democratic Party The Slovak Democratic and Christian Union – Democratic Party ( sk, Slovenská demokratická a kresťanská únia – Demokratická strana, SDKÚ-DS) was a liberal-conservative, Christian-democratic political party in Slovakia. The SDKÚ-DS was a m ...

called him a "puppet in the hands of Fico and Paska", referring to prime minister Fico, and the speaker of parliament Pavol Paska, both senior figures within the Smer-SD party. During Raši's two-year tenure as minister he set out on continuing his predecessors attempt to reform the country's health insurance sector. He also launched a campaign of aggressive legislation aimed at improving the public health. One example being increasing taxes on products with high amounts of sugar, or otherwise unhealthy products.

Member of Parliament

While serving as government minister of health, he also stood as Smer-SD's candidate for a parliamentary seat in the

2010 Slovak parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Slovakia on 12 June 2010. The elections were contested by eighteen parties, six of which passed the 5% threshold for sitting in parliament. Despite the incumbent Smer of Prime Minister Robert Fico winning a p ...

from his native district of Kosice. In a fortunate turn of events, he ended up gaining the seat, although losing the ministers post due to Smer-SD losing the election. He was reelected to a full four-year term in the

2012 Slovak parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Slovakia on 10 March 2012 to elect the 150 members of the National Council. The elections followed the fall of Prime Minister Iveta Radičová's Slovak Democratic and Christian Union – Democratic Party-led ...

Mayor of Košice

In September 2009, it was announced that Smer-SD would place Raši on the party's ticket for the upcoming

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

al election in Kosice. This was despite the fact that they in April had confirmed that another politician, Ladislav Lazar would be the party's choice. However, the increasingly popular Raši had since eclipsed Lazar. Prime Minister Robert Fico confirmed his choice of Raši saying that "We are looking for strong candidates that can win elections, therefore we are giving people from the executive branch a chance". In what was to be the closest election in Kosice in over 20 years, Raši eventually won with 36% of the vote, 4 percent ahead of the runner-up, incumbent mayor František Knapík who received 32%. The turnout however, was surprisingly low, at 33%. He resigned as Mayor on 26 March 2018 after being appointed Deputy Prime Minister. He was succeeded by Deputy Mayor Martin Petruško in an acting capacity.

Deputy Prime Minister

Raši was appointed Deputy Prime Minister for Investments and Information upon the ascension of

Peter Pellegrini Peter Pellegrini (; born 6 October 1975) is a Slovak politician who served as the prime minister of Slovakia from 2018 to 2020 and Minister of Health from December 2019 to March 2020. He previously served as deputy prime minister (2016–2018) a ...

to the office of

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

in March 2018. He was approved, along with the rest of the new Cabinet, by the National Council on 26 March 2018.

Personal life

Raši lives in Košice with his wife and three daughters. He enjoys hiking as well as sports.

References

, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Rasi, Richard Living people 1971 births Politicians from Košice Direction – Social Democracy politicians Health ministers of Slovakia Slovak surgeons Members of the National Council (Slovakia) 2010-2012 Members of the National Council (Slovakia) 2012-2016 Members of the National Council (Slovakia) 2016-2020 Members of the National Council (Slovakia) 2020-present