The Nursing Union and the Independent Health Union on Wednesday reiterated their demands for a 10% rise in wage indices for all healthcare workers and announced peaceful half-hour protests in front of hospitals across Croatia in the next ten days.

“Someone gets up to 20 percent, and someone gets three percent, that needs to be corrected,” Anica Prasnjak, head of the Croatian Professional Union of Nurses, told a press conference, alluding to last week’s government decree that corrected the pay  coefficients of some of the healthcare workers, mostly doctors.

Prasnjak and president of the Independent Union of Healthcare and Social Wellfare Stjepan Topolnjak warn that the government is selectively and partially solving problems in the healthcare system, thereby causing dissatisfaction among their members. The nursing union points out that more than 30,000 nurses are employed in the healthcare system, which make up about 47 percent of the total number of workers in the healthcare system.

The system now lacks more than 4,000 nurses, and their contribution is not recognised or valued, Prasnjak points out.

Long-term neglect of other professions in healthcare

Nurses with secondary education and bachelor’s degrees in nursing received an increase in coefficients between 3 and 5 percent by the latest government decree, which Prasnjak assessed as “degrading and belittling”.

Topolnjak warned about the long-term neglect of physiotherapists, medical radiology engineers, sanitary engineers, medical laboratory diagnostics engineers and social workers.

He assessed the position of hospital cooks as shameful, warning that non-health workers in the health system work for minimum wages.

“Salary problems in healthcare should not have been solved partially. We invite Plenkovic to receive us and raise salaries by a minimum of ten percent. If he could do it for doctors, he can do it for those on the minimum wage,” said Topolnjak.

He warned that non-health personnel are massively leaving the healthcare system for the tourism sector or leave Croatia. “If Plenkovic cannot receive us, let him authorise Health Minister Vili Beros to increase our salaries,” said Topolnjak.

Protests in front of hospitals all week

Under the slogan “We are the healthcare system as well”, the nursing union and the independent union of healthcare and social welfare started holding protest activities today at 11 a.m. in Zagreb, in front of the Dubrava and Merkur clinical hospitals, in Split in front of KBC and in Dubrovnik in front of the General Hospital.

Protests have been announced for Thursday, 4 May, in front of the Sisters of Mercy KBC in Zagreb, in front of the general hospitals in Varazdin and Karlovac, and in front of the special hospital in Krapinske Toplice.

On Friday, 5 May, protests will be held in front of KBC Zagreb and Osijek, in front of KB Sveti Duh in Zagreb, the General Hospital in Vinkovci and in front of the Special Hospital in Varazdinske Toplice.

Next week, on Monday, 8 May, there will be another protest in front of the KB Dubrava, and general hospitals in Cakovec, Zadar and Bjelovar.

Protests have been announced for Tuesday, 9 May, in front of hospitals in Dubrovnik, Slavonski Brod Karlovac and Nasice, and a protest is planned for 11 May in Zagreb.