ZAGREB, August 20, 2019 - Health sector union representatives were disappointed with the outcome of a meeting with the ministers of finance, labour and health in the Health Ministry regarding a planned wage increase and despite an announcement of the start of a new round of negotiations, the unionists seem ready for a strike action.

The union representatives reiterate that they will not back down from their demands that were initialled in a collective agreement with Health Minister Milan Kujundžić and that is, a wage increase of three percent for working conditions and four percent for life and health responsibility for all workers in the healthcare sector working in diagnostics and treatment.

The leader of the nurses' union, Anica Prašnjak stated that union committees would decide on the date of the strike and in the meantime, they will see what the government will put to the union at a meeting scheduled for Friday.

"The unions are planning a strike, protest action and an awkward situation in the health system because they consider that this delaying isn't leading anywhere. People no longer have any hope and we have to organise ourselves," she said.

The physicians' union will join the strike in support of nurses and other workers in health, said Igor Tripalo, the leader of the third largest health sector union.

Tripalo is disappointed with the outcome of today's talks and underscored that in addition to striking, physicians have the possibility of rescinding their agreement to work more than 48 hours a week as a sign of protest.

Health Minister Milan Kujundžić said that negotiations have formally been returned to the start but that he expects healthcare workers to eventually be given a wage increase. He said that a proposed negotiation team would be proposed to the government today so that negotiations can continue on Friday and hopes that everything will be resolved by October 31.

"I think that in the end, Croatian physicians, nurses and all workers need to receive a higher wage if we want to keep them in Croatia,", he said.

Kujundžić thanked the unions for their understanding, modesty and fairness.

Disappointed with the outcome of today's meeting union leader Stjepan Topolnjak said that the unions had expected to launch the negotiations today and that the unions will remain steadfast in that the initialled collective agreement remains to be the starting position for negotiations.

More health sector news can be found in the Lifestyle section.

ZAGREB, August 14, 2019 - Health Minister Milan Kujundžić said on Wednesday that the government would find a way to increase healthcare workers' salaries by four percent, asking healthcare workers for understanding as salaries could not be increased more, while unions of healthcare workers said they would not give up on their demand for a wage increase and could not rule out a strike.

Kujundžić said that the unions had negotiated in the most fair way, with their demands regarding the wage increase being modest.

"I believe the government will find a way to increase the salaries of healthcare workers by 4% and I hope those workers will understand that currently their salaries cannot go up more," said the minister.

"The current delay is only due to the need to make adjustments in the budget and due to possible requests for a wage increase in other sectors. The government has understanding. We must keep our doctors and nurses who are very much sought-after in Europe," the minister said, adding that the problem would be resolved in the coming weeks.

The leader of the SSZSSH union of healthcare and welfare workers, Stjepan Topolnjak, said that unions would not give up on their demands, noting that he also could not rule out a strike.

Unions in the healthcare sector expect salaries in that sector to go up by 3% in August and by 4% in October.

Topolnjak said that negotiations on higher salaries had lasted for a year and a half.

"The government still does not realise that medical workers are leaving the country in search of better work conditions and that there is already a shortage of medical staff," he said.

He added that he expected specific figures on funds to be allocated to the healthcare sector to be put on the table at talks set for August 20.

Talks on higher salaries in the health sector should not depend on similar talks with other public services, he said, recalling that salaries in the education sector would go up by 4% in October and by 2% in January 2020.

"The government must know that there is not enough personnel in the health system, that people are emigrating, not only medical workers but non-medical workers as well. There is no time to lose," Topolnjak said.

More news about the healthcare system can be found in the Lifestyle section.

ZAGREB, August 12, 2019 - At the start of 2020, the construction of a new healthcare centre with an integrated accident & emergency department (A&E) will begin in the coastal city of Split, the Večernji List daily reported on Monday.

The new centre will specialise in emergency medicine and the acute care for patients, the head of the Split University Hospital Centre, Julije Meštrović was quoted as saying.

Apart from that hospital with integrated accident & emergency services, Split is going to construct a building housing several clinics that will operate on an outpatient basis, according to the newspaper.

Mestrovic said that the money for these two projects would be partly secured from the EU funds.

The new hospital facilities in Split are part of the government's plan for healtcare system which also includes the future national children's hospital at Blato, Zagreb as well as new hospital facilities in Osijek, Rijeka and Pula, the daily reported.

In mid-April, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandić signed a framework agreement on cooperation in preparing the project "Building the national children's hospital," which is the first step in implementing the project for the construction of the hospital in Zagreb's Blato neighbourhood.

The government-sponsored project is worth 42.3 million kuna, of which 85% will be financed by the European Regional Development Fund. The rest of the funds will be secured from the state and Zagreb city budgets. The new children's hospital will also provide care in gynaecology and obstetrics. Health Minister Milan Kujundžić said then that new national children's hospital would provide all forms of treatment of children's diseases in one place.

More health news can be found in the Lifestyle section.

ZAGREB, August 9, 2019 - The Office of President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović said in a statement on Friday that with regard to a request sent to her by the MOST party to call an extraordinary session of the parliament to discuss a vote of no confidence in Health Minister Milan Kujundžić, she would make a decision on the request if the Constitutional Court ruled that conditions for such a move had been created.

"If the Constitutional Court decides that conditions have been created for the parliament speaker to call an extraordinary session of the parliament and if the parliament speaker fails to do it, the president will decide on the request for an extraordinary parliament session in line with her constitutional powers," the president's office said.

The office noted that after the Parliament's Committee on the Constitution, Standing Orders and Political System turned down MOST's request for a special parliament session to discuss a motion for a vote of no confidence in Minister Kujundžić, party whip Nikola Grmoja wrote to President Grabar-Kitarović on August 6, asking her to request the parliament speaker to call a special parliament session in line with Article 79, Paragraph 2 of the Croatian Constitution.

"... Considering that 32 members of parliament who signed the motion for a special session of the parliament have asked the Constitutional Court to submit to the parliament a report on the constitutionality and legality of the conclusion made by the Committee on the Constitution, Standing Orders and Political System, the President calls on the Constitutional Court to act in line with its powers and respond to the motion filed by the parliamentary deputies on July 22," the president's office said.

More news about the Constitutional Court can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, August 4, 2019 - Health Minister Milan Kujundžić on Saturday commented on recent statements by President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, noting that she had the right to assess the government and ministries' work but that his performance as minister would be judged by voters.

In an interview with Croatian Radio on Friday, Grabar-Kitarović said she was unhappy that the recent government reshuffle did not include the Health Ministry.

"The labour drain is due to working conditions and not wages. The situation in the health sector is perhaps not disastrous but it is truly in a very poor state and almost nothing has been done in the past three years. I am sorry that the Health Ministry wasn't included in the last government reshuffle," she said in the interview.

In a brief statement to Hina, Kujundžić declined to comment on the president's statements, adding that there would be time for comments.

"The president is entitled to make her own assessments and my work as minister will be judged by voters," he said.

More news about the Health Ministry can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, July 31, 2019 - Finance Minister Zdravko Marić said on Wednesday a tax on sugar in soft drinks under new rates proposed by the government would not necessarily mean higher revenues for the Health Ministry.

This tax has no specific purpose, so its revenue is general and serves to pay the general needs from the state budget, he told reporters when asked if the Health Ministry could count on higher revenues due to higher sugar rates.

Marić said the government was not imposing a new tax but correcting an existing one. The sugar ratio in soft drinks, under the government's proposal, will not be taxed by 40 kuna per 100 litres but depending on the percentage of sugar in those drinks, he added.

As for possibly higher excises on tobacco and alcohol, Marić said excises would go up at the end of the year and that he assumed producers would calculate them into prices. "We are not proposing a dramatic jump that would disrupt market relations."

Health Minister Milan Kujundžić said higher prices for cigarettes and soft drinks were absolutely justified, after criticism that such measures in some other countries have yielded no results.

"Demographically, ethically and medically speaking, it's absolutely justified to raise prices, significantly, so that our children don't enter the world of vice," he told reporters.

Financially speaking, Kujundžić said it should be analysed and that he therefore understood Marić's caution.

Cigarettes take 15,000 lives a year and from an ethical and human aspect, nothing is more important than saving those lives, while demographically speaking, 15,000 more people annually would mean a lot, he added.

Asked what that money would be spent on, Kujundžić said it was not important and that saving people's health and lives was.

More tax news can be found in the Business section.

ZAGREB, July 23, 2019 - The Ministry of Health and the Croatian Employment Service in Zagreb on Tuesday presented health institutions and organisations with 7.7 million kuna (1 million euro) worth of grant agreements aimed at increasing public awareness of the importance of health promotion and disease prevention.

The agreements were presented as part of the project "Health Promotion and Disease Prevention - Phase 1" from the European Social Fund.

The total amount of the grants is 27 million kuna (3.6 million euro), and today the first 12 successful applicants were granted 13 agreements worth 7.7 million kuna. EU funding will be used to promote healthy habits and good health, increase public awareness of the importance of preventing chronic contagious, non-contagious, rare and malignant diseases, and provide additional training for medical staff.

These projects will help health organisations throughout the country "to raise public awareness of how important it is for each of us to take measures to prevent numerous diseases, primarily cardiovascular ones," Health Minister Milan Kujundžić said.

He said that smoking and alcohol were "the two greatest evils" affecting people's health and family lives.

"I hope that through education people will become aware how harmful smoking and alcohol are and that in the years ahead far fewer Croats will suffer from diseases they could influence through prevention," Kujundžić said.

More health news can be found in the Lifestyle section.

ZAGREB, July 18, 2019 - The government on Thursday gave the go-ahead to sign a memorandum of understanding with the Roche pharmaceutical company for the preparation and implementation of the project "Personalised medicine in oncology" aimed at improving cancer treatment outcomes in Croatia.

The project aims to improve care for cancer patients by using genetic profiling to ensure targeted therapy, improve the quality of life and treatment outcomes, and reduce the mortality rate among patients suffering from malignant diseases.

The project provides for establishing a national centre and a national team for targeted treatment based on genetic profiling.

The Roche company has sent a letter to the Health Ministry expressing its intent to participate in the preparation and implementation of the project. By accepting the letter of intent, the government supports the transformation and enhancement of oncological care in Croatia based on a personalised approach and treatment based on the results of genetic profiling and data from clinical practice," Health Minister Milan Kujundžić said.

The Health Ministry will set up a task force, comprising representatives of the co-signatories of the memorandum, to draw up an action plan.

The signing of the memorandum was scheduled for Thursday evening.

More medical news can be found in the Lifestyle section.

ZAGREB, July 12, 2019 - The coordinating body of pharmaceutical wholesalers at the Croatian Employers' Association (HUP) announced on Friday they were beginning a selective suspension of deliveries of drugs and medical supplies to hospitals after their debts had reached 2.6 billion kuna.

Representatives of pharmaceutical wholesalers warned at a press conference that the hospitals' debt was increasing by 150 million kuna every month and, because the government was ignoring their warnings, they would write to the European Commission.

They stressed that none of the hospitals was paying its obligations within the statutory deadline of 60 days, adding that they had borrowed an additional 1 billion kuna to ensure regular drug supplies to the hospitals.

"We are beginning a selective suspension of drug supplies to individual hospitals, and pharmaceutical wholesalers will do this at their discretion," the head of the coordinating body, Ivan Klobučar, said.

He said that some of the pharmaceutical wholesalers would take legal action against the hospitals in Dubrovnik, Sisak and Vinkovci, which are over 1,000 days late in paying their debts.

"The promise by Health Minister Milan Kujundžić about the payment of 200 million kuna for the hospitals' debts has been fulfilled, but the pharmaceutical wholesalers have received only 130 million kuna, which is eight percent of the total debt of 2.6 billion kuna," Klobučar said, adding that he did know where the remaining 70 million ended up.

The debt is expected to reach 3.6 billion kuna by the end of the year, with an average payment period of 590 days. Klobučar said that five hospitals were over 800 days late in paying their debts, and three were over 1,000 days late.

As a short-term solution, pharmaceutical wholesalers are proposing that 50 percent of the debt, or 1.3 billion kuna, be settled immediately, while as a medium-term solution they are proposing the preparation of an acceptable debt payment schedule to reduce the payment time to the agreed 260 days by the end of the year. They say that the problem of the hospitals' insolvency and cost-ineffectiveness should not affect drug deliveries because they accounted for barely 20 percent of total costs in the health budget.

The chairman of the governing council of the Croatian Health Insurance Fund (HZZO), Drago Prgomet, on Friday commented on the announcement by pharmaceutical wholesalers that they would begin a selective suspension of deliveries of drugs and medical supplies to hospitals over their debts.

"Croatia has never been left without drugs, hospitals have never been left without drugs and they will not be left without them now," Prgomet said in response to questions from the press.

Asked how the hospitals intended to resolve this problem, he said that they would do it as they had done before - by paying their debts. "We are aware of the debts that we have. The debts will be paid off, but there will be no suspension of drug deliveries. The citizens need not worry. The Croatian citizens have never been left without drugs and they will not be left without drugs now or in the future."

Prgomet said that pharmaceutical wholesalers were making very good profits in Croatia and would not take legal action. Asked if this meant that they were earning enough regardless of the debts owed to them, he said that none of them had failed so far.

More medical news can be found in the Lifestyle section.

ZAGREB, May 16, 2019 - A solution is expected in a week regarding the servicing of a part of hospital debts to wholesale drug suppliers, which have increased to HRK 2.6 billion, putting into question the delivery of drugs and medical material to hospitals whose payment deadlines exceed three years, Health Minister Milan Kujundžić and Croatian Employers Association (HUP) representatives said on Thursday.

The president of HUP's wholesale drug suppliers, Ivan Klobučar, said suppliers demanded that the state pay 50% of the debt, but the actual amount would be known in a week's time.

He was speaking to the press after a meeting with Kujundžić, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and Finance Minister Zdravko Marić.

Klobučar said Plenković "promised us the first part of some solution in seven days, but we don't have... any numbers yet. We expect them to offer us some sort of solution in agreement with the Croatian Health Insurance Fund (HZZO)."

He said payment deadlines set by hospitals were untenable, adding that general hospitals in Dubrovnik, Sisak and Vinkovci were 1,000 days behind, although, under the law, they should be paid in 60 days.

Kujundžić said urgent solutions to the debt must be found but that the Health Ministry did not have the 1.3 billion kuna wanted by wholesale drug suppliers. The money will be found together with the government and the HZZO, which expects a 2 billion kuna revenue increase this year, he added.

HUP president Davor Majetić welcomed the meeting with the prime minister, saying he was informed of the extent of the problem. "We have to start solving this because we are talking about citizens' health. We hope that next week we'll have concrete proposals for short- and long-term solutions to the problem."

More news about the healthcare sector can be found in the Lifestyle section.