The five umbrella medical organisations on Friday reiterated that they would hold a protest rally in the centre of Zagreb on Saturday to express their dissatisfaction with a poor state of affairs in the public healthcare system and with their material entitlements.

Kresimir Luetic of the Croatian Medical Chamber (HLK) said today that the protest was not directed against anybody.

“This is the protest for better conditions for doctors, for a better healthcare system and eventually for patients,” he said, calling on political parties’ representatives not to attend tomorrow’s rally as their presence would politicise the event.

The disgruntled physicians say that one in three young doctors leave Croatia, while over 50 municipalities throughout the country are without GPs.

They assess that the healthcare system lacks 2,000 doctors and 4,000 nurses.

They also warn about long waiting lists for patients.