ZAGREB, August 22, 2018 – The MOST party on Wednesday presented 52 reasons why they are calling for Health Minister Milan Kujundžić to be replaced while Kujundžić said that he was adamant that he would sue three lawmakers and request that their medical licences be revoked.
MOST leader Božo Petrov claimed that the party’s proposal to replace Kujundžić had support from other opposition caucuses in the legislature and that they would meet for concrete talks concerning the motion. “I’ve spoken with SDP leader Davor Bernardić and HSS leader Krešo Beljak and they, like Živi Zid leader Ivan Sinčić have generally supported the motion for no confidence vote against the minister because the situation in the health sector is intolerable,” Petrov told a press conference.
MP Ines Strenja Linić underscored that MOST’s demands for Kujundžić’s dismissal were triggered off by the minister’s failure to do anything over the past two years. She said that nothing had been done concerning reforms that Croatia yearned for. She criticised the minister over what she called faults in emergence medical services, primary health care and in prevention of health problems as well as in education of health sector workers, financing and organisation in the sector and in the hospital system.
“The minister has not come up with a national hospital development plan. He hasn’t legalised overtime work. He hasn’t reorganised the Croatian Health Insurance Institute (HZZO). He hasn’t standardised goods and services and has poorly implemented the priority waiting list project,” she said.
Among the 52 points presented, MOST accuses Kujundžić of having failed to adopt a national plan for the fight against cancer, to establish an emergency helicopter service and emergency maritime ambulance service, and has not made it possible for family doctors to open private practices with agreements with the HZZO.
Asked to comment on Kujundžić’s announcement that he would sue Petrov and his party colleague Strenja Linić, as well as SDP MP Željko Jovanović, and call for their licences to be revoked, Petrov said that that speaks more about Kujundžić himself and that he should be more aware of the position he holds and what his priorities and job should be.
Kujundžić has said in an interview with the Večernji List daily that he will ask that members of parliament Željko Jovanović of the Social Democratic Party, and Ines Strenja Linić and Božo Petrov of the MOST party be stripped of their medical licences for their statements made following the death of 21-year-old Matteo Ružić, who died in the street in Zaprešić, just west of Zagreb, on August 12 while waiting for an ambulance.
“The three doctors – Jovanović, Strenja Linić and Petrov – used the young man’s death and his family’s tragedy to score political points, revealing their utter medical incompetence… without waiting for the findings of an inspection or an autopsy report, they made conclusions and in fact smeared the reputation of Croatian doctors and nurses and caused public alarm. That has caused huge damage to the Croatian people and I will therefore ask they be stripped of their medical licences for good. I will also consult with lawyers to see if criminal prosecution against them is possible,” said Kujundžić in a comment on the case.
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