President of HDZ’s Health Committee and the leading candidate for new Croatian health minister Ante Ćorušić was a guest on Croatian Radio-Television on December 29, 2015. Right at the beginning of the interview, he admitted that he was a candidate for health minister, but added that this would be decided by HDZ president Tomislav Karamarko, MOST leader Božo Petrov and future Prime Minister Tihomir Tim Orešković.
First he discussed Canadian healthcare system which was mentioned by the new PM as a possible model for Croatia. “I met Orešković by chance a few years ago. He helped me a lot because he introduced me to people from Canada who know a lot about their healthcare model. The Canadian model has its strengths and weaknesses, but it would be good to decentralize the system. You cannot know from Zagreb what the situation is in other cities and towns; some of the issues should be left to local government. Croatian system is more socially oriented than Canadian and that will remain so. We are a country in economic transition, so our system needs to be constantly changing”, Ćorušić said.
Talking about the issue of abortion, Ćorušić said that “human life begins when male and female gametes combine. Abortion is an agreed form of violent interruption of human life. That is the only truth. However, absolute prohibition is out of the question. We have to be aware what kind of society we live in, but we do need better and more ethical procedures. This old law has been adopted during the times of totalitarianism. We need to civilize it in the interest of the health of women and children. I have convinced a third of my patients to change their minds and not proceed with abortions”, Ćorušić said yesterday.
Speaking in some earlier interviews, Ćorušić said that he liked the Polish model where abortion is legal with considerable limitations stipulated by law. “We will definitely change the law on abortion from 1978. Modern Croatia must not and cannot be subject to a law adopted during the totalitarian regime. We will give women a week to once again think about their decision, with the help of experts, gynaecologists and psychologists”, Ćorušić said.
Talking about sex education in school, Ćorušić had this to say. “My child will not attend sex education classes. I have nothing against the introduction of the subject, but I am absolutely against the Module 4 which talks about sexuality strongly influenced by the so-called gender ideology. As a physician, I believe that sex education should be an integral part of biology classes. My wife and I have raised four children, we have studied biology textbooks for elementary and secondary schools and, in my opinion, human sexuality is appropriately presented in these textbooks. If some parents want their children to learn Module 4, that can be an optional subject, just like religious studies.”
