April 25, 2021 - The parliamentary GLAS party said on Sunday that Health Minister Vili Beroš should step down due to the scandal with the cijepise.hr platform for registration for COVID-19 vaccination but warned that problems in the health system would not be solved with his departure alone.

"Minister Beroš, who has shamelessly awarded jobs worth millions of kuna to his friends amidst the horror in the health system he has caused, and who tells us that 'services say that everything is all right', refuses to assume any responsibility for the chaos caused by his vaccination platform," the party said in a press release.

As for the minister's statement that it was not true that the platform was not functioning but that rather it was not working as one would want, GLAS says that only Beroš knows the exact difference.

"People who registered for vaccination but whose registration was deleted by the platform, people above 65 and chronic patients who are still waiting for an invitation to vaccination, as well as general practitioners, are bearing the witness on a daily basis to how the platform functions or 'does not function the way we would want it to function'," GLAS said.

Calling for the minister's resignation, the party notes that one should not think that it would solve any of the problems in the health system or make it start functioning.

"Beroš is a minister because (PM Andrej) Plenković appointed him and responsibility lies primarily with the prime minister. As long as Plenković is Prime Minister and the HDZ is in power, we will keep sinking deeper and deeper."

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ZAGREB, 19 April, 2021 - The opposition MOST party on Monday called for an urgent reform of the health system, saying that Health Minister Vili Beroš was not the only one to blame for the bad situation in that sector and that the entire government and PM Andrej Plenković were also responsible.

"Recent statements by Finance Minister Zdravko Marić in the parliament are a result of an order to find the scapegoat for the situation in the health system, and that is Health Minister Vili Beroš, who a few months ago was a superhero, a result of the government's PR strategy," MOST MP and Zagreb mayoral candidate Zvonimir Troskot told a news conference.

He recalled Beroš's having said that a draft health reform was waiting on the government's table but that it was evident that there was no political courage or will to implement it.

By saying so, Beroš has revealed the real culprit for the lack of any necessary reforms. All Plenković is interested in is his position, Troskot said, calling on Beroš and Plenković to put the draft health reform to public consultation, adding that MOST would support it if it proved to be to the benefit of citizens, "even at the cost of a drop in party ratings."

As for a possible vote on Beroš's replacement, he said that Bridge would vote for it but that Beroš was not the only one to blame, reiterating that the Andrej Plenković government lacked the courage for any vital reform, including the health reform.

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ZAGREB, Aug 19, 2020 - Health Minister Vili Beros said on Wednesday that Croatia's health system would be able to cope with a higher number of COVID-19 patients unless there was a "complete disaster" and that the number of tests carried out would increase in the coming period.

Commenting on today's daily high of 219 new COVID-19 cases, Beros said in an interview with N1 television that Croatia was increasing the number of tests because that was a good way to protect the health and social care systems.

We will definitely expand testing

"We will definitely increase the number of tests carried out in the coming period. Our strategy adapts to the moment. We are now slightly changing the strategy and it is definite that we will expand testing come autumn, which we are ready for," he said.

Health system needs to be more efficient

Beros noted that Croatia's health system needed to be more efficient and organised in a more rational way but that there would not be cuts in health care provision or testing.

Commenting on statements by Slovenian government spokesman Jelko Kacin that the situation in Croatia was dramatic, Beros said that Kacin was not familiar with the situation in Croatia's health system.

"It suffices to look at the total number of tourists who have been to Croatia this year and the number of infected persons and realise that the situation is far from alarming or dramatic," he said, adding that even now 80,000 Slovenian tourists feel safe in Croatia.

It is not good to portray the situation in Croatia as more dramatic than it is

It is legitimate to prevent the infection from spreading to your country, especially ahead of the start of the school year, but it is not good to portray the situation in Croatia as more dramatic than it really is, Beros underscored.

Up to Croatia to keep the situation under control, warn of high-risk situations

Asked whether it was possible that Germany would also put Croatia on its red list, he said that it was possible, but that it was up to Croatia to continue taking care of the number of cases of the infection, to warn about high-risk situations and detect hotspots.

It is important to stress that over a third of new cases are contacts of infected persons, the situation is under control, but it is not possible to say what will happen in the autumn, Beros said.

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As Frenki Lausic/Novac writes on the 20th of April, 2019, the Croatian Government's convergence program for the next three-year period has identified the pension and health system as the two largest structural risks, both of which are associated with the country's worryingly negative demographic trends.

This government assessment came at a time when trade unions are busy organising a referendum on pension reforms, as well as during a somewhat shaky period in which Zdravko Marić, the Croatian finance minister, said that Milan Kujundžić, the minister of health, is an excellent minister but that the Croatian health system with over seven billion kuna's worth of debt is unsustainable in an interview for N1.

When it comes to Croatia's concerning demographic trends, the program states that, when comparing the European Union and the Republic of Croatia, in the period 2016-2070, the remaining life span after 65 years of age will be extended by 6.4 years in men and by 6.2 years in women in Croatia, whereas in the EU, it will be 5.3 years more for men and 5.1 years more for women.

It has been stated that the life expectancy at birth in 2016 was 81.1 years for women and 75 years for men, which is less than the average for the EU, where the expected life expectancy at birth for women was 83.7 years, for men 78.3 years. However, data for the Republic of Croatia showed that life expectancy up to 2070 will be 9.4 years more for men and 7.8 more for women, while for the EU, life expectancy is expected to grow to 7.8 years more for men and 6 more years for women.

In this context, the results of the long-term projections for the Republic of Croatia for the period 2016-2070 show that without the calculated effects of the reform which came into force at the beginning of this year, pension expenditures from the first pillar should be reduced from 10.6 percent of GDP, which is what it was back in 2016, to 6.8 percent of GDP to the year 2070.

At the same time, transfers from the national budget to cover the deficit would gradually fall from the current 4.8 percent to about 1.2 percent of GDP by the year 2070. Expenditures for pensions from the second pillar should gradually increase to 1.6 percent in 2070, which means that overall retirement expenditures from the first and second pillars in 2070 would amount to 8.4 percent of Croatia's GDP.

Thus, looking at the situation macroeconomically, the pension system would remain viable, but with inadequately small pensions. That is why the government states that measures from the latest pension reform will increase pension adequacy and, accordingly, retirement expenditures in the first pillar.

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Click here for the original article by Frenko Lausic for Novac/Jutarnji