March 18, 2023 - Today's Zagreb protest has been organized by the Croatian Medical Chamber, the Croatian Medical Union, the Croatian Association of Hospital Doctors, the Coordination of Croatian Family Medicine and the Initiative of Young Doctors after a survey showed the great dissatisfaction of doctors in public health, and their readiness to go on strike.
As 24Sata writes, Croatian doctors are dissatisfied because the Ministry of Health has not met their demands and is not solving the accumulated problems in the system.
Zagreb protest should be kicking off at Dr. Franjo Tuđman Square at 10:45 a.m. with a march along Ilica to Ban Jelačić Square, then St. Mark's Square. The planned arrival at St. Mark's Square is at 11:30 a.m., where the main part of the protest will begin at 12:05 p.m.
The organizers announced the largest protest of medical staff so far, expecting a large turnout from all parts of the country.
"The protest is not directed against anyone, it is a protest for better conditions for doctors, for a better health system and ultimately for patients. We invite the officials of the political parties not to come to Mark's Square tomorrow so that the protest is not politicized", said the president of the Croatian Medical Chamber Krešimir Luetić.
The protesters are asking the Prime Minister and the Government to urgently equalize the coefficients of the complexity of the jobs of specialists with narrow specialists, doctors in primary health care with hospital doctors, as well as to increase the coefficients for specialists by at least 10 percent.
They are also asking for the adoption of a law on the labor-legal status of doctors by the end of the spring session of the Parliament, harmonization of the work of doctors at all levels of health care with time-staff norms, and the abolition of "employee" contracts for doctor specializations.
They state that every third young doctor leaves the country, more than 50 municipalities have no primary care doctors, and the health system currently lacks 2,000 doctors and 4,000 nurses. Every third doctor in the system is over 50 years old, and patients have to wait up to 600 days for individual examinations.
Dissatisfied doctors emphasize overload and poor working conditions, inefficient management in the system, devastation of primary health care, non-existent health care reform and continuous ignoring of their requests.
They believe that their requests have exceeded the level of the relevant ministry, so they will send them directly to Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and the Government. The protest is taking place only a day after the key health laws were passed in the Parliament, which, according to the announcements of Minister Vili Beroš, will initiate a structural reform of the system.
In recent days, Beroš has repeated several times that the protest is legitimate, but it is not the way to solve the problem.
He said that doctors are protesting for their material rights even though, in the opinion of many citizens, they "live very well", that their incomes have increased by 43 percent since 2016, and more than 2,000 doctors have a higher salary than the prime minister.
He added that he does not deny that there are problems in the system, but, he says, they should be discussed.
"Good will is needed for an agreement, not a conversation with hidden intents, it is necessary to offer sustainable solutions", he said, warning of a sincere lack of desire and will to resolve things through negotiations and discussion.
Beroš was previously supported by the Croatian Medical Association, the Croatian Association of Family Physicians and the Association of Healthcare Employers (UPUZ). The director of UPUZ, Dražen Jurković, called the protest a "putschist method", and specifically questioned the appropriateness of the participation of certain associations that have public powers, alluding to the Medical Chamber.
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