Richard Raši (born 2 April 1971 in

Košice Košice is the largest city in eastern Slovakia. It is situated on the river Hornád at the eastern reaches of the Slovak Ore Mountains, near the border with Hungary. With a population of approximately 230,000, Košice is the second-largest cit ...

) is a Slovak

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

and

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

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

Voice – Social Democracy Voice – Social Democracy (, Hlas-SD) is a social democratic and populist political party in Slovakia. It was founded in 2020 by dissidents from Direction – Social Democracy (Smer-SD) led by former prime minister Peter Pellegrini. In October ...

() political party, Raši previously served as Mayor of the city of

. 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 spending and other social security services. Some governments have separate ministers for mental heal ...

in the First cabinet of

Robert Fico Robert Fico (; born 15 September 1964) is a Slovak politician who has served as the prime minister of Slovakia since 2023. He previously served as prime minister from 2006 to 2010 and from 2012 to 2018. He founded the left-wing political party D ...

. On 26 March 2025, he assumed the Speaker of the National Council role succeeding Peter Žiga.

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 tertiary education and research Research is creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge. It involves the collection, organization, and analysis of evidence to increas ...

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 a postgraduate 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 prac ...

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 de ...

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 ...

in 2004. Raši received his PhD degree in the same field at

Technical University of Košice Technical University of Košice () is the second largest university of technology in Slovakia. University Structure * Faculty of Mining, Ecology, Process Control and Geotechnology * Faculty of Materials, Metallurgy and Recycling * Faculty ...

six years later.

Career

Immediately after graduation, Raši 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 months on internships abroad, working in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

and

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. 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.

sacked Raši due to their strained relationships, but rejected it. 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 (, SDKÚ-DS) is a liberal-conservative, Christian-democratic political party in Slovakia. The SDKÚ-DS was a member of the Centrist Democrat International and was a member of the Eur ...

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 ...

from his native district of Kosice. In a fortunate turn of events, he ended up gaining the seat but the ministers post due to Smer-SD losing the election.

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 corporation, 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 responsibilitie ...

al election in Košice. 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 Košice in over 20 years, Raši eventually won with 36% of the vote, 4 percent ahead of the runner-up, incumbent mayor

František Knapík František Knapík (born 17 October 1956 in Ľubotín) was the mayor of the Slovak city of Košice until December 2010, and a member of the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH). He studied at a grammar school (gymnasium) in Sabinov and at the Co ...

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 is serving as the sixth president of Slovakia since 2024. He previously served as prime minister of Slovakia from 2018 to 2020. Pellegrini also served as the Minister of Health, ...

to the office of

Prime Minister A prime minister 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. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

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

Minister of Investments, Regional Development and Informatization

On 25 October 2023, he assumed the Minister of Investments, Regional Development and Informatization role in the fourth cabinet of

. He resigned on 19 March 2025 and was succeeded by

Samuel Migaľ Samuel Migaľ (born 30 June 1982) is a Slovak politician and former TV host. He has served as the minister of Investment, Regional Development and Informatics of Slovakia since 2025. Biography Migaľ was born on 30 June 1982 in Košice. He att ...

. On 26 October 2025, after 353 days, he was appointed as Speaker of the National Council succeeding Peter Žiga, the incumbent Deputy Speaker.

Personal life

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

References

, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Rasi, Richard 1971 births Living people Politicians from Košice Direction – Social Democracy politicians Voice – Social Democracy politicians Deputy prime ministers of Slovakia Health ministers of Slovakia 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) 2020–2023 Members of the National Council (Slovakia) 2023–2027 Speakers of the National Council (Slovakia) Slovak surgeons