The government would no longer pay for maternity leave

The Union of Employers (UPCG) believes that the Draft Law on Mandatory Health Insurance by certain provisions shifts the burden of health care financing to employers in comparison to the comparative law, while the draft law on health care does not adequately treat private institutions in which additional work for health workers is prohibited who are employed in the public sector. Draft laws were prepared by the Government.

The General Secretary of the UPCG, Suzana Radulović, told "Vijesti" that the solution in the draft law on compulsory insurance is that the payment of wage compensation due to pregnancy is transferred to the employer from the first day of absence from work (which, according to the current legal solution, was paid at the expense of the Health Fund ) additional burden for employers.

"That solution can cause problems in the employment of women in the reproductive period. One should bear in mind the practice which shows that there is a large number of maternity leave in Montenegro. "These are worrisome data that indicate that this phenomenon should be investigated, whether it is about really endangered pregnancies and the health of pregnant women, or about possible abuse of rights or authority by employees and doctors," Radulović pointed out.

She stated that in the countries of the region and the EU, wage benefits during temporary incapacity for work are borne by the employer for a much shorter period of time (Ukraine - five working days, Cyprus three, Macedonia/Serbia/BiH 30 calendar days, Croatia - 42 calendar days ) than is the case in Montenegro where that period is 60 days. Vuksanović said that the bill on health care retains an anachronistic approach, because it does not adequately treat private health care institutions and their role in the overall health care system.

He believes that the ban on additional work in private health care institutions for employees in the public sector is not in accordance with the Constitution, which guarantees the right to work and the freedom to choose an occupation. He reminds that this was one of the arguments for deleting the required consent of employers for starting additional work with another employer from the 2011 Labor Law.

"Instead of properly dealing with those who avoid their duties while performing work in a public health institution, which is the key argument of the proponents of this legal solution, we received a solution that introduces a complete ban on overtime work for doctors and other medical personnel in private health institutions. This is how we end up in a contradictory situation, according to which the institute of supplementary work becomes controversial, instead of a category that should be of benefit to patients", assessed Radulović.

UPCG believes that in this way all private health institutions that need to employ health workers and associates in supplementary work are put in an unequal position.

"In the explanation, the editor of the text did not deal with the reasons for the introduction of rigid legal provisions, even though they put only one profession in an unequal position compared to others," said Radulović.

Doctors should be allowed to work with private companies, corruption is an excuse

Vuksanović believes that the state would benefit from the supplementary work of doctors in private health institutions because it would collect the corresponding taxes and contributions, while doctors and other medical personnel would have the opportunity to increase their income.

"Patients have the greatest interest in additional work because it is their right to choose who will examine and treat them. This means that they should be able to find the doctor they want when they need medical care. Anything contrary to that is discrimination," emphasized Radulović.

She added that the Employers' Union does not dispute the Government's intention to bring order to the health care system through the proposed act, but that there are legal ways and measures to control the work of health workers in the public sector and initiate disciplinary and criminal liability for untimely performance of work duties and for committing corrupt actions.

"That's why any explanations about healthcare workers who abuse their workplaces in public healthcare institutions and redirect patients to private institutions where they work on top of it represent a simple replacement of theses, not a valid argument," said Radulović.