Alojz Rakús (14 May 1947 – 27 August 2023) was a Slovak psychiatrist and politician. He served as the Minister of Health in the first two democratic governments of Slovakia following the end of the Communist regime. From 1998 to 2002 he was a

Member Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-oriented programming, a member of a class ** Field (computer science), entries in ...

of the National Council.

Life and career

Rakús was born in

Trnava Trnava (, , ; , also known by other #Names and etymology, alternative names) is a city in western Slovakia, to the northeast of Bratislava, on the Trnávka river. It is the capital of the Trnava Region and the Trnava District. It is the seat o ...

on 14 May 1947. He studied medicine at the

Comenius University Comenius University Bratislava () is the largest university in Slovakia, with most of its faculties located in Bratislava. It was founded in 1919, shortly after the creation of Czechoslovakia. It is named after Jan Amos Comenius, a 17th-century ...

, graduating in 1971. In addition to Medical practice, he remained active in the academia, teaching at the

(1971–1982) and at the

Slovak Medical University The Slovak Medical University in Bratislava - SMU () 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 2002 and replaced the Slovak Postgraduate Academy of ...

(from 1982 until his death). From 1990 Rakús 1992 he served as the Health minister in the governments of

Ivan Čarnogurský Ivan Čarnogurský (27 May 1933 – 9 November 2022) was a Slovak businessman and politician. A member of the Christian Democratic Movement, he served in the Chamber of People from June to December 1992. He was the brother of the first prime m ...

and

Vladimír Mečiar Vladimír Mečiar (; born 26 July 1942) is a Slovak former politician who served as the prime minister of Slovakia from June 1990 to May 1991, June 1992 to March 1994, and again from December 1994 to October 1998. He was the leader of the Movemen ...

. As the minister, he allowed medical staff to opt out from performing medical abortions and unsuccessfully attempted to limit the access to abortion. He was also a deputy of the Federal Assembly, until the

dissolution of Czechoslovakia The dissolution of Czechoslovakia, which took effect on December 31, 1992, was the Self-determination, self-determined Partition (politics), partition of the federal republic of Fifth Czechoslovak Republic, Czechoslovakia into the independent ...

. From 1998 to 2002 he again served as the MP of the National Council representing the

Christian Democratic Movement The Christian Democratic Movement (, KDH) is a Christian democratic political party in Slovakia that is a member of the European People's Party (EPP) and an observer of the Centrist Democrat International The Centrist Democrat International ...

(KDH). Rakús was among the most hardline conservative members of KDH. For example, he controversially claimed 52% of homosexuals could be cured of their condition and that tolerance to homosexuality could lead to more people being homosexual. In 2008, he left KDH and joined the four hardliner KDH MPs to co-found the Conservative Democrats of Slovakia. In 2012, he ran as a non-party candidate on OĽaNO party list in 2012 elections. Alojz Rakús died on 27 August 2023, at the age of 76. He was

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rakus, Alojz 1947 births 2023 deaths Members of the Federal Assembly of Czechoslovakia Christian Democratic Movement politicians Conservative Democrats of Slovakia politicians Academic staff of Comenius University Members of the National Council (Slovakia) 1998–2002 20th-century Slovak physicians Comenius University alumni Politicians from Trnava Slovak Roman Catholics 21st-century Slovak physicians