The health committee convened on Tuesday to discuss the nomination of Irena Hrstic as new Health Minister, after Vili Beros was fired over alleged involvement in medical equipment bid rigging, and Opposition MPs used the opportunity to reiterate their accusations against PM Andrej Plenkovic.

The committee’s chairwoman, Ivana Kekin, (Mozemo! party) said that over the past eight years Prime Minister Plenkovic had conducted a strategy of destruction of the public healthcare system by “legalising several models of siphoning funds from the public healthcare system into private clinics.”

She said that waiting lists for specialist examinations are becoming longer and longer.

Kekin also criticised the current government over the fact that life expectancy in Croatia is three years shorter than the EU average.

“Croatians have the worst cancer mortality rate in the EU. Almost 50% more Croatians die from preventable death causes,” she said.

In the next five years the healthcare system will be left without 40% of family doctors and 300,000 women do not have gynecologists, the Mozemo! MP said, adding that there was also a shortage of pediatricians and child psychiatrists.

Kekin’s remarks prompted HDZ MP Mislav Herman, who is the committee’s vice chairman, to accuse Kekin of conducting her presidential campaign at the committee session.

As for waiting lists, he said that they have been shortened from 400 to 133 days.

The share of funds directed from the public healthcare system to private clinics has been below 2% for years while wages in the healthcare system have risen 39% since last year, and 99% since 2016, Herman said.

Nikola Grmoja of the Most party said that there was no point in discussing the nomination for the new health minister and that the only solution to the situation would be the resignation of the premier and the entire government.

Miso Krsticevic of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) said that PM Plenkovic, in whose cabinets 30 ministers have been replaced, has no political or moral right to introduce the new minister of health to the committee.

He said that the healthcare system is in a chaos due to political corruption committed by people nominated by Plenkovic.

Nikolina Baradic of the ruling HDZ party replied that during the SDP government led by Zoran Milanovic and Health Minister Ranko Ostojic, the public health system was opened to “controversial entrepreneurs”.

“It was you who opened the door wide to them and defrauded the state budget of 22 million kuna (approximately €2.9 million),” said Baradic.

HDZ MP Zeljko Reiner said that during the four years of the Milanovic cabinet more ministers were changed than during the eight years of the Plenkovic cabinet.