Leader of the opposition Social Democrats, Pedja Grbin, criticized Health Minister, Vili Beros, for failing to reform the health care system to deal with problems in that sector on Friday, noting that Social Democrats plan to present their own reform proposal, in order to prevent what he called "one of the worst possible consequences of Beros's inaction, the privatization of health care."

“The possible privatization of healthcare could lead to polarization in society, dividing people into those who can afford health care and those who can’t. The Social Democrats will strongly oppose that with its own health reform proposal,” Grbin said.

Since early 2021 billions of kuna have been given to the Health Ministry to settle debts which despite that have continued to grow because the government has not done anything to stop their growth but has reduced healthcare spending, he said.

Grbin warned that the coronavirus pandemic had revealed numerous problems in the health care system, from the large number of people with diseases, including malignancies, to the fact that healthcare is not equally available to everyone.

Now that the coronavirus pandemic is waning, we will realize how much the system is inefficient and healthcare inadequate, he said.

Instead of dealing with how to reform the system, the minister again has to deal with anti-corruption investigators who are “combing his ministry’s records on the suspicion that some of the contracts awarded to the Cuspis company were overpaid and on the suspicion of conflict of interest,” he said.

USKOK is also investigating the procurement of a radiation apparatus worth 11.2 million kuna, which is also suspected of having been overpaid, Grbin said, calling out PM Andrej Plenkovic over failure to make the health system functional.