Croatia's future health minister, Irena Hrstic, said on Wednesday that her ministry had begun reviewing public procurement procedures on the instructions of Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic following the arrest of former health minister Vili Beros.

The exact scope of this review has not yet been finalised, nor whether it will include procurement practises during the tenure of some previous governments, she said.

“We have started to review public procurement. This is an extensive and complex process. The ministry believes that at the moment it should focus on procurements that have been approved by the ministry itself, procurements with potentially questionable pricing,” Hrstic said during an event to mark Atrial Fibrillation Awareness Week.

Hrstic will lead an internal working group to carry out the review.

When asked if the review would include procurement decisions from the terms of previous governments, Hrstic explained that they were starting with the most recent cases because they were the freshest. “We will go as deep as necessary,” she said.

The ministry will issue detailed instructions to hospital boards that oversee procurement processes in their facilities. The boards will also be tasked with reviewing the findings of the State Audit Office’s 2022 reports, which will form a basis for further investigations.

Regulation of relations between the public and private healthcare sectors

Hrstic acknowledged that balancing the public and private healthcare sectors is a challenge.

“In Croatia, 15 million medical referrals for hospital treatment are issued annually, with the number of procedures increasing by 2 – 4% each year. While there are problems with accessibility, healthcare services are not entirely inaccessible. Certain anomalies need to be identified, whether they are confined to specific facilities or are systemic,” she explained.

Work is already underway on a regulation for the relationship between publicand private healthcare, which was initiated under the previous Minister of Health, Vili Beros.

“The basic criteria are already in place. Now it’s a matter of finalising them. I have set myself the goal of finalising these regulations for public consultation within a month,” added Hrstic.

She said that restoring the public’s trust in the healthcare system and promoting the confidence of healthcare professionals in the administrative structures are her top priorities.

Focus on primary health care

Hrstic emphasised the need to strengthen primary healthcare. She pointed out a particular problem in two Zagreb neighbourhoods where residents will soon no longer have access to paediatric care.

“The reorganisation of work is one possibility. It seems that we lack paediatric specialists. The posts for specialist training have been advertised, but there is little interest in specialist training in paediatrics,” she said.

Hrstic suggested creating incentives for doctors to specialise in paediatrics and reducing the administrative burden in the healthcare system, which she described as excessive.

On the political challenges associated with her new role, Hrstic said she was ready to face them.

Hrstic also commented on her relationship with her former superior Beros, describing it as professional and constructive. “We worked and communicated well. Problems arose and we solved them. I have nothing negative to say,” she concluded.

Prior to her appointment as Minister, Hrstic was Director of the General Hospital in Pula and has been State Secretary at the Ministry of Health since August 2024.