“We appeal to the Ministry of Health, Minister Beroš, and the Croatian government in general to stop systematically destroying the rights of patients,” the association said in a statement, adding that the government was deceiving the public by saying that Croatia was among the EU countries with the lowest health contributions.
“Relevant data shows that this is not true. The Minister would now like to impose new taxes and shift an even greater burden onto patients’ shoulders without himself offering a single reform during his term that would benefit the patients,” the statement said.
The association criticised Minister Beroš for not even trying to stop pharmaceutical companies from saying publicly that the most serious patients, such as those on dialysis and oncological patients, would be left without therapy.
“Pharmaceutical companies have the right to present their problems in public, but the Ministry obviously did not make an effort to stop them from additionally frightening the patients who are anyway worried about their own conditions,” the statement said.
Dignitas called on Minister Beroš to “first put the healthcare system in order and see where savings can be made”, stressing that savings certainly cannot be made on medical staff and therapy. It said that the healthcare system should be reformed in cooperation with patients, recalling that citizens already contribute a substantial amount of their pay towards healthcare.
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