The acting director of the Zagreb-based Sisters of Mercy hospital centre, Mario Zovak, on Tuesday tendered his resignation, explaining that he did not want his management to harm the procedure of the appointment of the new director.

Zovak also said that he is stepping down so that his management cannot be used as a pretext for objections to the transparency of the process.

In the meantime, 17 employees of the hospital’s clinic for treating cancer sued the head of the radiology department, Dijana Zadravec, for mobbing.

Several radiologists who left that clinic in recent years have released a letter in which they accuse the department’s head Zadravec for being the reason for their departure. They say that she is responsible for poor working conditions.

Recently, the department of radiology came under media limelight due to poor relations among employees, which escalated to mutual accusations between Zadravec and some employees.

The situation in that hospital centre, notably in the clinic for the treatment of cancers, prompted Health Minister Vili Beros to say that the shortage of radiologists in the Sisters of Mercy hospital and its cancer treatment clinic was within the responsibility of that institution and that he expects the hospital to provide patients with appropriate and immediate health services.

“The solution to the acute problem of the shortage of radiologists at the Sisters of Mercy hospital and the clinic for treating cancers, which is part of that health institution, is up to the administration at the hospital and I expect them to provide all patients with the appropriate medical services, and in particular oncology patients and those with grave diseases,” said Beros.

He underscored that patients have to be above the organisational problems of an institution.