Minister Kujundžić is well known for giving slightly unusual statements.
A hearing at the tribunal of the Croatian Medical Chamber in the case against Health Minister Milan Kujundžić was concluded today with reconciliation. In this procedure, the tribunal had to determine whether Minister Kujundžić violated the code of medical ethics and deontology with his statement given during the recent election campaign, reports tportal.hr on April 5, 2017.
“Many physicians have a title, but there is nothing behind it. Fifty percent of doctors do not earn their salaries, they do not know how to do their jobs, and do not want to work. Those who do want to work cannot earn enough, so they leave, just like best basketball players or football players,” said Kujundžić at an election rally in Split during the parliamentary election campaign in 2016 speaking on the topic of health policy.
Due to this statement, president of the Croatian Medical Chamber Trpimir Goluža filed a motion to initiate disciplinary proceedings. Previously, the Croatian Medical Chamber reported Kujundžić, at the time HDZ’s parliamentary candidate in the tenth constituency, to the Ethics Committee and to the party itself, but the Ethics Committee rejected its claims.
Kujundžić today apologized to doctors due to his statement and the dispute ended with reconciliation. “People who work sometimes make mistakes. There are not many people who are able to admit their mistakes and apologize for them. I appreciate the fact that Minister Kujundžić realized his mistake and apologized to Croatian doctors for inappropriate comments he made during the election campaign. I hope that we have all learnt some lessons from this case and that in the future something like this will not happen again,” said Goluža.
Kujundžić said that his controversial statement represented an opinion that was not based on objectively established data. “Not taking into account my intentions, it is more than obvious that my statement was an insult to our colleagues. I apologize to all my colleagues who were hurt by my statement. I hope that my actions as health minister will demonstrate that I have total confidence in Croatian doctors,” said Kujundžić.
Minister Kujunždić was recently in the public focus again, after he said that having one priest in a hospital was more valuable than having 20 doctors. Doctors are still waiting for his apology for that statement.
