Under the slogan "SOS for healthcare," five umbrella medical organisations are organising a protest rally outside the government building in Zagreb on Saturday to express their dissatisfaction with the poor state of affairs in the public healthcare system and with their material entitlements.

The protest is organised by the Croatian Medical Chamber, the Croatian Medical Union, the Croatian Association of Hospital Doctors, the Coordination of Croatian Family Medicine and the Initiative of Young Doctors, following a survey that showed great dissatisfaction among doctors in the public healthcare system, and readiness to go on strike.

Luetic: Protest not aimed against anyone, but at better conditions for doctors and a better health system

They are dissatisfied because the Ministry of Health has not met their demands and is not resolving the accumulated problems in the system.

Protesters gathered at Dr. Franjo Tudjman Square at 10:45 a.m. and march in a procession along Ilica Street to Ban Jelacic Square, from where they will go to St. Mark’s Square. The planned arrival at St. Mark’s Square is at 11:30 a.m., and the protest itself begins at 12:05 p.m.

They previously announced the largest medical protest so far and expect a response from all parts of the country.

“The protest is not directed against anyone, but it is a protest for better conditions for doctors, for a better health system and, ultimately, for patients. We call on the officials of political parties not to come to Mark’s Square tomorrow so that the protest is not politicized,” said the president of the Croatian Medical Chamber, Krešimir Luetic.

The protesters are asking the Prime Minister and the government to urgently equalize the job complexity index of resident doctors with those with a subspecialty is a narrow field within a specialty, doctors in the primary healthcare system with hospital doctors, as well as the increase of pay coefficients for resident doctors of at least 10 percent.

They are also asking for the adoption of a law on the labour-legal status of doctors by the end of the spring session of the parliament, harmonisation of the work of doctors at all levels of healthcare with time-staff norms, and the abolition of “slave-like employee” contracts for resident doctors.

They state that every third young doctor leaves the country, more than 50 municipalities have no primary care doctors, and the health system currently lacks 2,000 doctors and 4,000 nurses. Every third doctor in the system is over 50 years old, and patients wait up to 600 days for individual examinations.

Dissatisfied doctors emphasize work overload and poor working conditions, inefficient management in the system, the devastation of primary healthcare, non-existent healthcare reform and continuous ignoring of their requests.

They believe that their requests have exceeded the level of the relevant ministry, so they will send them directly to Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and the entire government.

The protest is taking place only a day after the key health laws were passed in parliament, which, according to the announcements by Health Minister Vili Beros, will initiate a structural reform of the system.

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Beros: The protest is legitimate, but not the way to solve the problem

Recently, Beros has reiterated on several occasions that the protest is legitimate, but it is not the way to resolve the problem.

He said that doctors are protesting for their material rights although, in the opinion of many citizens, they “live very well”, and that their incomes have increased by 43 percent since 2016, and more than 2,000 doctors have a higher salary than the prime minister.

He added that he does not deny that there are problems in the system, but, he says, they should be discussed. “However, goodwill is needed for an agreement, and it is necessary to offer sustainable solutions,” Beros said, warning of a sincere lack of desire and will to resolve things through negotiations and talks.

Beros was previously supported by the Croatian Medical Association, the Croatian Association of Family Physicians and the Association of Healthcare Employers.