ZAGREB, 16 May 2022 - About 400 ambulance drivers and paramedics went on strike on Monday saying they will continue striking until their demands are met and their pay is aligned with that of drivers in the medical system, with shop steward Vladimir Markuš saying that the Health Ministry pushed them into the strike.

"The consequences of the strike will be visible already today and even more tomorrow. We are going until our demands are met, but unfortunately, the Health Ministry has literally pushed us into this strike," Markuš told Hina.

The strikers are calling for a regulation that would align their earnings at the country level because now their wages vary up to HRK 1,500 in some cases, depending on which county they are in.

Ambulance drivers are striking in several counties and cities.

About 400 ambulance drivers are on strike at local health clinics, while another 300 drivers at emergency medical centers in seven counties, who are not allowed to strike, are working to rule.

Markuš added that the only response strikers received from the ministry were that Minister Vili Beroš was "away today" and he had made a statement yesterday.

"The minister is calling for care for Croatian citizens who will not be getting their rights, yet he contributed to the fact that many people have not been able to exercise their rights. Patients have been waiting for MRI tests for up to a year and a half. These people are being deprived," Markuš said.

"We will not leave patients without care. Those needing transport will get it but those who are not urgent cases won't because only about 30% of drivers are working and they cannot handle all that work," added Markuš.

Markuš appealed to the ministry to resolve their problem so that the system does not collapse.

"We are waiting for the competent authorities to do their job and adopt a regulation on indexation. As soon as it is adopted, we will cease the strike," Markuš said.

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May 14, 2022 - Out of a total of 359 gynecologists in Croatian hospitals, 195 refuse to perform abortions.

Of the 29 public hospitals in Croatia that have a contracted abortion service with the HZZO on request, in six of them, no gynecologist wants to do so because they have a conscience appeal, writes Večernji list. Clinical Hospital Sveti Duh in Zagreb, General County Hospital Vinkovci, OŽB Našice, and OŽB Požega and General Hospitals in Virovitica and Nova Gradiška are institutions whose gynecologists employed there have called to conscience and do not want to perform abortions at the request of women.

In the Požega hospital, along with gynecologists and all five anesthesiologists, they also called for conscience and do not perform abortions. Out of a total of 359 hospital gynecologists in Croatia, 164 gynecologists agree to work in public hospitals at the request of a woman by the legally regulated and legal procedure of abortion, and 195 refuse to do so.

Due to his conscientious objection, 38 out of a total of 698 specialists in anesthesiology, resuscitation, and intensive care, as many as work in Croatian hospitals, refuse to perform abortions, according to data from the Digital Atlas of Medicine of the Croatian Medical Chamber. Some nurses and midwives and even pharmacists in pharmacies also called for a conscience appeal, but we did not find out exactly how many.

There is no conscience appeal in some hospitals

The conscientious objection in an individual hospital is regulated by the employee writing a statement invoking the right to conscientious objection and delivering it to the employer, such as the personnel or legal service, the director's office or the hospital board, and in some cases appeals are only recorded at the gynecology department.

There is no uniform practice. There are no or almost no appeals of conscience in hospitals in Rijeka, Karlovac, Ogulin, Sisak, Koprivnica, Pakrac, Knin, Vukovar, Pula and Čakovec.

All hospitals whose doctors invoked conscience for abortion have hired doctors from another institution, to whom they then pay extra or have contracts with the health institution where the procedure is performed. Thus, they have fulfilled the legal obligation that they must ensure legal and accessible abortion, writes the journalist of Večernji list Romana Kovačević Barišić.

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ZAGREB, 15 Dec 2021 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković on Wednesday condemned in the strongest terms attacks and the invective against healthcare workers, underscoring that COVID certificates were not anything special or any kind of restriction, but a tool used across Europe.

"Insulting healthcare workers is inappropriate and unacceptable... instead of expressing gratitude to them for their commitment, we can see insults that deserve to be strongly condemned."

On Tuesday evening, Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković also deplored the aggressive behavior of some demonstrators at rallies against COVID certificates and vaccines.

Commenting on the latest COVID numbers in Croatia, PM Plenković said at the cabinet's meeting that although those numbers were falling, they were still high.

He reiterated his appeal for vaccination against coronavirus.

Pleković recalled that in the last two years, Croatia had implemented some of the easiest epidemiological restrictions in Europe, without long and strict lockdowns and curfews.

We conduct the struggle against the pandemic in the way we consider to be appropriate. Of course, we do not want to encroach on the human rights framework. The precondition for the protection of human rights is that citizens are well and alive, he said.

For more, check out our dedicated politics section.

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