Health Minister Vili Beros has said that he does not support the "hue and cry" against a physician at Zagreb's KB Dubrava hospital who complained publicly about problems in the hospital, claiming that its respiratory support unit, where she works, lacks drugs and food for patients.

“Any constructively presented comment, if well-founded and true, even if made publicly, is welcome because it helps us be better at what we do. We should focus on solutions and act on the basis of the health inspection,” Beros said in a Facebook post on Wednesday.

The minister said on Tuesday that an inspection was underway at KB Dubrava and that its preliminary findings did not reveal any significant omissions.

The doctor who complained about the working conditions at the hospital’s respiratory support unit said that patients were not adequately cared for, did not receive meals every day and that the unit lacked sufficient quantities of medicines.

She has been supported by some 30 physicians who work at the respiratory support unit.

KB Dubrava hospital director Srecko Marusic has told the Index news website that there was no campaign whatsoever in the hospital against persons pointing to possible irregularities.

He said that the doctor in question had signed the letter with her complaints, that her identity was known and that no internal investigation was underway.

Marusic also claims that nobody threatened the doctor and dismissed any possibility that she could be fired.