Health Minister Milan Kujundzic said on Tuesday that preliminary reports provided by hospitals showed that the debt accumulated due to miscalculation of doctors' overtime pay stood at HRK 700 million without accrued interest, and it would be paid in several monthly installments.

“I do not have definitive figures, my ministry has requested them from the hospitals,” Kujundzic said while visiting the Dubrava hospital in Zagreb.

He said that the miscalculation happened in 2013, when reimbursement to doctors for overtime work did not include compensation for specific work conditions and other benefits.

“This should be rectified now. We have solved other problems and we will solve this one too. We will agree with the doctors when they will be paid, in installments over several months,” said the minister.

The ministry will start negotiations with the doctors as soon as it receives the Supreme Court ruling. The ruling says that reimbursement to doctors for overtime work should include compensation for specific work conditions and other benefits. According to unofficial sources, the debt to doctors accrued due to miscalculation of overtime pay is estimated at HRK 1.5 billion (€203 million), and so far 4,000 physicians have taken legal action against their employers over this problem. Several hundred final verdicts have been handed down to date.