In three and a half years, as many as 525 physicians have left Croatia.
In the last three and a half years, as many as 525 physicians have left Croatian healthcare system and have gone to work abroad, according to detailed data presented on Wednesday by the Croatian Physicians’ Chamber, reports N1 on December 14, 2016.
Trpimir Goluža, president of the Croatian Physicians’ Chamber, called on the government led by Prime Minister Andrej Plenković to take measures to motivate doctors to stay in Croatia because, due to the situation among medical staff, the health of Croatian citizens was in question. “The situation is alarming, and the current situation with the medical staff represents a serious threat to the security and prosperity of Croatia”, said Goluža.
He stressed that this was a problem of national interest that the government should make a priority national issue. “If very soon it does not take decisive and specific measures, Prime Minister Plenković’s government will be held responsible for the irreversible collapse of the quality of healthcare for Croatian citizens”, said Goluža.
“On an annual basis, about 150 physicians are leaving Croatia. Our boat is slowly but surely sinking. It is time to finally do something and find a way to gradually and systematically solve the problem”, said Goluža.
He asked Health Minister Milan Kujundžić, and in particular Prime Minister Plenković, to seriously tackle the problem which could make the health of Croatian people fall below the standards of the European Union. “We urge them to do everything possible so that the health in Croatia in five years’ time would not become a privilege of the few, but would remain the right of all citizens”, said Goluža.
The Croatian Physicians’ Chamber has created solutions that will soon be presented to the public, and include continuous calls for internships, for which there is currently a long waiting period, as well as collective bargaining for physicians, better organization of work in the healthcare system, and encouraging and rewarding excellence. They also propose changes in the concept of specialist training and the elimination of so-called “slave-holding” contracts, as well as simplification of the process for recognizing foreign professional qualifications which in Croatia, in comparison to other EU countries, takes unusually long time.
The first detailed data about physicians who have left Croatia were compiled by comparing data on the number of certificates issued for moving to work in other countries of the European Union with the data of the Croatian Institute for Pension Insurance about physicians who are not currently employed in Croatia, and the relevant data from the Croatian Institute for Health Insurance and the Agency for Support to Information Systems and Technologies.
