ZAGREB, November 15, 2019 - The first human milk bank was opened at Zagreb's Women's Hospital on Friday, its purpose being to provide milk donated by nursing mothers to prematurely born and seriously ill infants.

Around 2,000 children are born prematurely in Croatia every year, and around 400 need intensive health care to survive. Mother's milk has proven to be beneficial for infants owing to its unique nutritional and immunological characteristics and the milk from the bank will be given to the most vulnerable groups of babies to provide them with the best possible care and improve their chances of survival, experts said at the opening of the bank.

It is estimated that feeding the most vulnerable infants - those weighing less than 1,500 grams - requires collecting around 100,000 litres of human milk across the country. In time the bank aims to meet the demand for human milk at the level of the entire country.

Before it is used, the donated milk will have to pass the necessary checks to prove it is fit for consumption and the donors will be tested for infectious and other diseases.

For the time being, milk will be collected from women whose children are under the age of one, and all potential donors may contact the human milk bank on their own.

The bank is part of the Croatian Tissue and Cell Bank and it also includes a breastfeeding centre.

UNICEF Croatia Office head Regina M. Castillo said that thanks to donors, UNICEF had helped equip the human milk bank with equipment for the processing and storage of milk and provided for the education of health workers, and that it was currently purchasing a vehicle for the collection and distribution of donated milk.

She said that Croatia had one of the highest breastfeeding rates in Europe and the rest of the world.

The total value of the project is eight million kuna, of which five million was provided by the Health Ministry to furnish the bank's offices while UNICEF gave 3.4 million to buy the equipment. That amount includes 1.2 million bequeathed by doctor Heda Dubac Šohaj, it was said.

Having a human milk bank provides for the early development and health of children whose mothers cannot breastfeed, Health Minister Milan Kujundžić said, adding that Croatia was trying to catch up with more developed countries also in that segment of health care.

There are 239 human milk banks in Europe today. Of Croatia's neighbours, Italy has the largest number (37), Hungary has eight, and Serbia has three. Work is currently under way in Slovenia to open the first such bank.

More health news can be found in the Lifestyle section.

ZAGREB, October 19, 2019 - Last year 13,809 died in Croatia from invasive cancers and the National Cancer Plan, which should contribute to reducing those grim numbers, is expected to be put to the government before the end of the year, Health Minister Milan Kujundžić said on Friday.

In Croatia, a patient is diagnosed with cancer every 22 minutes, while every 38 minutes someone dies from cancer, and the experts who prepared the national plan consider that its implementation could save 4,500 lives in the next ten years.

"The point is to implement the plan. If the plan is not backed financially, it will be just another frustration of us," said Eduard Vrdoljak, president of the Croatian Oncology Society and head of the task force that prepared the plan.

The plan will cost 1.5 billion kuna over a period of 10 years and comprises 228 measures that include investment in primary prevention and early diagnosis as well as in infrastructure - a national oncology network, a national oncology data base and the monitoring of its implementation in order to achieve its main aim and that is to improve the results of treatment and to reduce the fatality rate, Vrdoljak said.

If Croatia succeeds in that, that will be the best investment in the survival of the Croatian nation and the reform of Croatia's health sector, he added.

Croatian cancer patients have access to state-of-the-art therapy, immunotherapy and genetic therapy, and about 700-800 million kuna is spent on that out of a total of 1.4 billion kuna in the fund for particularly expensive medicines.

More health news can be found in the Lifestyle section.

ZAGREB, October 18, 2019 - For the second time this year, the parliamentary opposition on Friday failed to secure a no-confidence vote in Health Minister Milan Kujundžić, with 48 votes in favour instead of the required 76 and no abstentions.

"A decision to give the health minister a vote of no confidence hasn't been made," Speaker Gordan Jandroković said.

The no-confidence vote was tabled at the request of 32 opposition MPs at the initiative of the Bridge party. Seventy-nine (79) lawmakers from the ruling coalition voted against this motion of the opposition.

Although it seemed the vote could be a test for the ruling coalition, given the support of the Croatian People's Party and Zagreb mayor Milan Bandić's party for school unions' pay rise demands, after the prime minister announced that salaries would be raised both parties backed the health minister.

Kujundžić has brought the health system to the brink of total collapse, waiting lists are increasingly long, which leads to a tacit privatisation, but the key reason why he can't stay on as minister is that he hasn't ensured the financial viability of the system, said Željko Jovanović of the Social Democrats.

Željko Reiner of the ruling HDZ said the no-confidence motion did not contain "even one statement as to what the minister has done wrong... or even one number, yet it talks about the financing of the health sector." He called out the opposition for creating a false picture of the situation in the sector.

The MOST party called out Kujundžić for a lack of reforms and of strategic health system management.

"Every stakeholder in the system sees they are in deep water - doctors, nurses, employers and wholesale drug suppliers, but first and foremost patients," said Ines Strenja.

This was MOST’s second attempt to give Kujundžić a no-confidence vote.

The first one took place a year ago, when 53 MPs were for and 77 against having him replaced. The arguments were similar to those in the latest motion, but the majority MPs, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and Kujundžić dismissed them as unfounded.

More news about the health minister can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, October 17, 2019 - The parliament on Wednesday afternoon started debating a motion to give Health Minister Milan Kujundžić a vote of no confidence, tabled by the MOST party with the support of 32 members of parliament, with opposition MPs criticising the minister for not launching a reform of the healthcare sector and for trying to influence the judiciary.

Explaining the motion, MOST MP Ines Strenja said that the minister had failed to adopt a health insurance law on time and ensure its implementation.

She also accused the minister of failing to consolidate primary healthcare and of failing to reorganise and financially stabilise the system.

Opposition MPs also criticised the minister for poorly managing human resources, resulting in a brain drain and some hospital wards closing down due to a lack of doctors and nurses.

"Patients get what they are given and not what they need, and that is unacceptable. There is no more time for inaction because the situation has become unbearable for doctors, nurses, wholesale drug suppliers and patients," Strenja said.

She added that the minister was no longer perceived as a relevant interlocutor, which was why the prime minister was being increasingly addressed to solve problems.

The opposition claims that the minister has demonstrated a lack of fundamental knowledge about the health system which, it says, has become financially unsustainable.

Opposition MPs also resent that the minister has tried to influence the judiciary in order to prevent courts from handing down verdicts that would be in favour of doctors who have sued the state over unpaid overtime.

The opposition submitted the motion for a vote of no confidence in Kujundžić before the parliament's summer recess in July, insisting that the issue should be discussed at an extraordinary parliamentary session but that did not happen because the Constitutional Court ruled that a motion backed by one-fifth of all MPs was not sufficient reason to discuss an item at an extraordinary session of the parliament during its recess.

This is the second time the parliament is discussing a vote of no confidence in Kujundžić after last year, around the same time, the minister's replacement was discussed for the first time, also at MOST's asking. At the time, the Opposition cited as many as 52 reasons why the minister should step down.

ZAGREB, October 17, 2019 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković on Wednesday dismissed an opposition motion to give Health Minister Milan Kujundžić a vote of no confidence, saying that Kujundžić, "who has worked with commitment on ensuring healthcare quality and availability," would stay in his government.

Defending the minister from opposition MPs' criticism, Plenković said that his government had implemented a number of measures to upgrade the healthcare sector and that it had achieved significant progress and stabilised the sector.

He noted that his government had inherited the sector's debt and that before the economy got into full swing and the amount of money flowing into the health insurance fund increased, it would not be possible to ensure the sector's financial stability.

Plenković recalled that an extra 1.3 billion kuna had been redirected into the health system in 2017 and that the sector's debt had been reduced from 8.2 billion kuna to 7.8 billion kuna.

"In 2019 significant funds, in the amount of 1.5 billion kuna, were secured for expensive drugs. Wholesale drug suppliers were recently paid 300 million kuna of a 500 million debt for the drugs supplied and the remaining amount will be paid to them by the end of the year," said the PM.

He announced the continuation of the rationalisation of the health system and better solutions for its financing as well as the continuation of work on promoting the quality of medical services. "Minister Kujundžić will have an important role in that," he added.

Addressing the parliament, Kujundžić said that since the start of 2017 the government had increased wages in healthcare by 18% whereas during the term of the Zoran Milanović government those wages were reduced.

"The maximum possible amount, of 2.2 billion kuna, has been absorbed from EU funds and invested in Croatian hospitals," he said.

He noted that 15,300 doctors and 31,000 nurses currently work in Croatia, which is a slightly higher number than in 2015.

The average number of doctors per 100,000 inhabitants in the EU is 350 and in Croatia it is 340, the minister said, warning against dramatising the situation in healthcare.

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

ZAGREB, October 16, 2019 - Health Minister Milan Kujundžić on Tuesday said that Croatia had absorbed 100% of the European Union's funds put at disposal for the national healthcare sector.

Kujundžić said this during the ceremony of opening of the reconstructed Gastroenterology Department at the Dubrava general hospital in Zagreb.

The Regional Development and EU Funds State-Secretary Spomenka Đurić confirmed Kujundžić's statement saying that almost 380 million euro had been allocated for the health sector from the Competitiveness and Cohesion Operational Programme.

"This is a sector that has absorbed not just what was made available to it but much more - it has invested in day hospitals, primary health protection, specialised hospitals," Đurić said at the opening ceremony of the project that involved an investment of 9 million kuna from EU funds.

Kujundžić announced that the healthcare sector was making preparations to absorb even more funds from the EU in the 2020 - 2030 period to build four new university hospital centres in Split, Rijeka, Osijek and Zagreb.

More healthcare news can be found in the Lifestyle section.

ZAGREB, October 8, 2019 - The European Federation of Salaried Doctors (FEMS) said on Monday that it would file a report with the supervisory bodies of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) over violations of labour and union rights of Croatian doctors.

The move was proposed by the head of the FEMS General Assembly, Joao De Deus, at the autumn session of the FEMS General Assembly held in Riga, Latvia, on October 3-5, the Croatian Medical Union (HLS) said.

The procedure before international institutions over violation of doctors' labour and union rights was previously requested by HLS president Renata Čulinović-Čaić, who took part in the FEMS General Assembly meeting and submitted a national report on the status of doctors in Croatia.

The report to ILO is only one in a number of steps to be taken before European and other international institutions with the aim of protecting Croatian doctors' rights, the HLS said in a press release.

The Croatian government's actions regarding the settlement of problems faced by Croatian doctors have been monitored by FEMS over the past six months yet they remain unsolved, the HLS says in the press release.

The problems concern lack of representativeness, inadequate payment for overtime work, and exceeding the legal maximum overtime work allowed.

The FEMS Assembly was also informed of a declaration signed by three Croatian umbrella medical associations as well as the government's disregard for their demand to meet with the prime minister.

The three associations demand in their declaration urgent adoption of a law on doctors' salaries or a collective branch agreement.

In the coming days the three medical associations will start preparations for further action, of which the public will be informed on time, the HLS said.

More health news can be found in the Lifestyle section.

ZAGREB, October 3, 2019 - Several hundred nurses protested outside Government House on Thursday disgruntled with a recently signed appendix to their Collective Agreement and are seeking a 25% increase on their base wage.

They are unsatisfied with the appendix to the collective agreement that was recently signed by health sector unions and the government providing a 7% wage increase as of 1 September.

"That literally means an increase of 50 kuna for each employee," the nurses said in a Facebook post in which they announced the protest and underlined their demands: a 25% increase of the base wage, returning supplements for each year of seniority, and new employment.

"Nurses are the pillar of the health sector," "A billion for Agrokor, a ticket for Ireland for nurses," are just some of the banners carried at the protest rally.

Addressing protesting nurses, Sanda Alić, one of the protest's initiators, warned of the poor state the system is in and the poor working conditions nurses work in.

"People are emigrating to find work because you forced them to. That is why each of us here works for two people. For how long?" Alić asked.

She underscored that attempts were made over the past few days to keep nurses quiet yet they make up for most of the health sector, 30,000 staff, and that they will not allow a handful of people to decide on their fate.

The protest's organiser Sandra Kolak stressed that for years it has been said that there is a shortage of 12,000 nurses.

That has been said by chambers, unions, trade organisations, the minister, yet all these years we have had a ban on hiring. Recently job vacancies were advertised but who wants to work here when they can earn three times as much in Germany, said Kolak.

Health Minister Milan Kujundžić earlier on Thursday commented on the protest, saying that he could understand their wish for higher wages but that the government had increased their wages as much as it could for the time being.

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

ZAGREB, August 30, 2019 - Health Minister Milan Kujundžić presented a Central Management System (CMS) for the national healthcare system, during his visit to the Zadar general hospital on Friday.

CMS is a central system of communication with hospitals and it collects information on a daily basis regarding all health indicators and data analysis and supports structural notices on hospital network sites as well as upgrading hospital invoicing, the Health Ministry said in a press release.

The system represents a positive step in exchanging and analysing data in the hospital system and the public health institute system and will facilitate the health system's operations, Health Minister Milan Kujundžić said presenting the system that was prepared jointly by the Health Ministry, the Croatian Health Insurance Institute (HZZO), and the Croatian Public Health Institute (HZJZ).

Considering the sensitivity of data that the system contains, it is equipped with the highest information security and data protection standards.

More health news can be found in the Lifestyle section.

ZAGREB, August 28, 2019 - Health Minister Milan Kujundžić on Tuesday said the government would find an additional 150 million kuna necessary to complete the construction of the new Pula hospital.

"Two years ago, the government decided to increase the amount by 300 million kuna for the new hospital in Pula and now due to price increases of building material and equipment, an additional 150 million kuna is needed. That money will be found and I am sincerely pleased that Pula will have a new hospital and better working conditions," Kujundžić told reporters outside Government House after meeting a delegation from Istria County.

Istria County Prefect Fabrizio Radin underscored that they had come across a lot of understanding from Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and the ministers of health and finance. "We will complete the hospital within a year to the benefit of all residents of Pula, Istria, tourists and all Croatia citizens," Radin said.

Pula Hospital's director Irena Hrstić said that she hoped that some new sections of the hospital would be ready to receive patients until the end of this year, as 75% of the construction has been completed.

She underlined that Pula will have a state-of-the-art health institution that will meet the requirements of residents in Istria county and tourists.

In late April, Kujundžić recalled that the government had to date ensured 100 million euro for the construction of the new hospital in Pula which was nearing completion.

More Pula news can be found in the Lifestyle section.

ZAGREB, August 26, 2019 - A third round of negotiations between healthcare sector unions and the government on Monday ended inconclusively over a proposed wage increase and the talks will resume on Wednesday with the unions saying that the government thinks it has bought some time with this move.

"These are not new negotiations but this is about an annex which has already been negotiated. I wouldn't say that anything important occurred at the meeting regarding employees' status. We are waiting for what is most significant, working conditions and salaries and that is still far from even being started to be discussed," Brankica Grgurić of the nurses' union said on Monday.

"Naturally, we will wait for negotiations on working conditions and salaries that will continue on Wednesday," unionist Stjepan Topolnjak added.

He underscored that their demands are still on the table and that "now they are going through some articles that need to be defined due to new members in the government's negotiation team."

"We will not insist on those articles that have already been agreed to but we will insist on those articles that regard the financial aspect," said Topolnjak.

He added that they insist on the agreed financial part which was initialled with Health Minister Milan Kujundžić.

"That is an increase of 7% -- 3% plus 4% -- and we will not back down from that," he underlined.

Asked whether the government has bought time with this and that the strike had been avoided, the unionists said, the government only thinks so.

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