Despite being willing to work in retirement, it seems that the largest Croatian hospital has no need for one of Croatia’s best surgeons.
The Rebro Clinical Hospital Centre in Zagreb has denied the extension of a six-month contract for retired neurosurgeon Josip Paladino, which means that he will have to leave the neurosurgery department of the leading national hospital after 40 years. His wife Zrinka Paladino announced the news on her Facebook profile, explaining that her husband, who has been retired for a year and a half, has so far had six-month contracts which were extended several times. He worked for just 4,500 kuna a month, but the hospital has apparently decided that even this was too much for a world-class surgeon, reports Večernji List on March 28, 2018.
“If people leading the hospital want it that way, then it has to happen. Obviously, the medical system operates in this way,” said Josip Paladino. “If they do not want me there anymore, I will have to go somewhere else. I am a surgeon, and I am not used to sitting around and talking. It was a great pleasure to do the job I know and love,” said Paladino.
Ante Ćorušić, managing director of the Zagreb Clinical Hospital Centre, has declined to comment on the issue. On Wednesday, the hospital explained that Paladino did not fit into its operational plans.
Paladino’s wife Zrinka, who is an architect, explained what happened. “In this part of Europe, there’s no better neurosurgeon than him, but political figures have decided that there’s no more room for him. He’ll have to continue his career somewhere else, where he’s more needed.”
The fix-term contracts for part-time work were just a formality for the surgeon. He often worked more than he was paid and performed more than 400 operations a year. “I have no working hours. I’ve lived like this my whole life, and I’ll continue. After I’m done with surgeries, I see 15 to 18 patients coming from all over Croatia and abroad, and I stay as long as is necessary,” said the surgeon some time ago.
Health Minister Milan Kujundžić said that “the decision was made solely by the hospital.”
Interestingly, Paladino has already received an invitation from Virovitica-Podravina County Prefect Igor Andrović to come to work in Virovitica. “We are aware of the lack of quality doctors here, and therefore I invite Josip Paladino to come to the Virovitica General Hospital because we need people like him. His immense experience will be useful for young doctors, but also for people who need quality healthcare. Whatever he needs, equipment, financial conditions, official car, apartment, we’ll solve it. We need people like him more than anything,” said Prefect Andrović.
As the shameful news about Paladino circulates, St. Catherine’s Hospital released this statement on its Facebook page:
”To our dear patients, distinguished Croatian neurosurgeon with international reputation and great and invaluable experience, prof.dr. Sc. Josip Paladino, is part of St. Catherine’s team. Ph.D. Paladino is a professor at the University of Zagreb Medical School and one of the leading neurosurgeons in this part of Europe. During his long career, he has performed over 15,000 operations, of which 16% have been on foreign patients. He is a member of the Croatian Academy of Medical Sciences, the Croatian Society of Neurosurgeons, the Croatian Neurological Society, the Anthropological Society, the World Association of Neurosurgeons (WFNS), the European Association of Neurosurgeons (EANS), the Royal Society of Medicine and the American Congress of Neurology Surgeons. For a specialist examination or second opinion from prof. Paladino, follow this link.”
Translated from Večernji List (reported by Ivana Rimac Lesički and Suzana Lepan Štefančić).
