Topping-Out Ceremony Held at the New University Hospital in Martin
Martin, 5 March, 2026: Construction of the new University Hospital of St Martin (UNM) has reached an important milestone: the structure has now topped out.
Andrea Čalkovská, Dean of the Jessenius Faculty of Medicine Comenius University Bratislava (JFMED CU), attended the inspection day marking the milestone. In the presence of the President of the Slovak Republic, Peter Pellegrini, the Minister of Health, Kamil Šaško, and the State Secretary for Higher Education and Academic Research, Róbert Zsembera, a traditional topping-out tree was raised on the building in keeping with custom. The milestone was marked by the pouring of the ceiling slab above the seventh floor, the highest above-ground floor of the building. The building’s roof structure is now complete. Guests attending the inspection held a meeting, toured the construction site and later briefed the media.
“I am pleased that we are standing here today at this major project. I believe that in two and a half years this will become a place offering an attractive environment not only for medical students, but also for other healthcare professionals and young doctors undergoing specialist training. It will be a place to which graduates working abroad will gladly return, and where patients will receive the very best healthcare,” Dean Čalkovská said at the press conference. She also highlighted the strong support for the project and the cooperation between the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education, the City of Martin, the self-governing region and UNM in the construction of the new hospital.
During his visit to JFM CU, Minister of Health Kamil Šaško also met with students from non-medical study programmes and personally invited them to attend the second edition of Medifutura, an event dedicated to non-medical healthcare professions. He gave the students an opportunity to ask questions on a range of topics. They were particularly interested in the development and functioning of public health in Slovakia and in the ministry’s support for prevention and vaccination. They also asked about expanding the scope of practice of midwives so they can fully apply the knowledge acquired during their studies, about how the ministry plans to motivate young people not to go abroad to study, and about employment issues linked to fiscal consolidation.