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Bešič Loredan said he would become minister if common ground was found with the coalition, he told the press after a two-hour meeting with Bratušek on Saturday.

"All changes to the health system won't be good for all, some will be strongly opposing it, others will try to prevent it, so the government has to decide whether to start this process," he said.

If he becomes health minister, Bešič Loredan (41) would bring along a team whom he presented to the prime minister.

The only name he was willing to reveal was that of fellow surgeon Erik Brecelj, an outspoken advocate of change in healthcare.

But he indicated that just like Brecelj some members of the team used to work with him within the Doctors' Initiative.

The Initiative was an ad hoc group led by Bešič Loredan that organised a mass rally for a just public health system last June.

While this team would work for the Health Ministry for free, the ministry would hire a group of legal experts and economists, he said.

The team would non include Igor Šoltes, the former head of the Court of Audit who was PM's most wanted candidate for health minister after Tomaž Gantar resigned in November.

Bešič Loredan also told Bratušek what his team could do in the short period before the next election as well as within a longer period of time.

He said he and Bratušek went through a series of areas to see what could be done and where compromise could be reached.

He would only be willing to reveal more details if he became a candidate, but said his team remained faithful to the Doctors' Initiative's programme.

Bešič Loredan also said he was asked by the PM whether he would resign after a month in office, but replied "If we shake hands, we shake hands and go all the way."

Stressing he was tougher then Trop Skaza, who cited pressures as a reason to resign so quickly, Bešič Loredan said he assured Bratušek he would immediately report and publicly expose any threat to him or his family.

Responding to those who believe he should not quit his job at a clinic in Switzerland for a short stint as minister, he said he would continue his medical career once he is no longer minister.

He believes that merely "sitting on a couch and saying what is wrong" will not bring change; he also believes that if he and his team get the opportunity to become minister, doctors would actually get the chance to change what they have been criticizing.

Bešič Loredan is aware that some might not like him for his clear stances, but stressed he was not a member of any party.

While he would earn much less as minister than the EUR 10,000 a month he gets in Switzerland, he said "the sum on my account does not necessarily always make me happy".

PM Bratušek did not address the press.