November the 8th, 2024 – The threatened Croatian healthcare strike appears set for Monday. As things stand, there will be no MRI scans, no X-rays, no blood samples being taken, and more. The reluctant move has been made after the government failed to listen to the demands of healthcare professionals once again.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the Zajedno (Together) Union held a media conference in front of KBC Zagreb (Rebro Hospital) where they announced the date of the Croatian healthcare strike, scheduled for Monday. They said that about 4,000 union members plan to go on strike following an unsuccessful conciliation process with the Health Ministry. One of the main Croatian healthcare strike motivators is dissatisfaction with the Regulation on coefficients.
“The union has decided to go on strike on Monday, November the 11th. Only urgent and emergency healthcare matters will be dealt with. All diagnostic, radiology and laboratory processing that is usually carried out will not be performed at all,” said Sanda Alić, vice-president of the Zajedno Union.
“Please understand that this Croatian healthcare strike is not the fault of healthcare professionals, but of the government and the Health Ministry, which continually ignores and dismisses our problems,” she pointed out.
When asked who can challenge the upcoming strike, she said that the strike cannot be challenged by Minister Vili Beroš, only by the Constitutional Court.
“The Health Ministry and the government are the only ones to blame for this strike. We’re asking for a 20 percent increase in the gross base, we will simply not go below that. Our base is 947 euros gross, about 700 euros net. We’ve been warning about this for years, but they didn’t listen and always played the sympathy card, but this can’t continue,” she said, adding that “nobody will be deprived of the ability to access healthcare services in the sense that their health may deteriorate or be put in danger.”
“Complete diagnostics will be available in most healthcare facilities nationwide. There will however be no MRIs, no blood sample processing, no X-rays… absolutely nothing of the sort. I feel extremely sorry for the patients, but we have no other choice but to go on strike,” said Krunoslav Kušec, president of the Zajedno Union.
