Yesterday, Croatia increased salaries in health care by seven percent from September 1, and Serbia, according to yesterday's announcement, will increase salaries for doctors by 10 percent and nurses by 15 percent from January.
These neighboring countries also increased salaries in health care by similar percentages last year, so that now in Serbia the salaries of medics are higher than in Montenegro, and in Croatia they are twice as high.
Montenegro last increased salaries in healthcare in 2016 by an average of about five percent. The Ministers of Health of Serbia and Croatia say that they will continue negotiations with the unions in order to increase salaries in health care and improve working conditions in order to reduce the number of medics leaving for the European Union. This problem also exists in Montenegro.
In July, two representative health unions at the Federation of Trade Unions and the Union of Free Trade Unions launched an initiative to increase wages in the health sector, by increasing their coefficients through the law on wages in the public sector. President of the Health Trade Union at the SSCG Ljiljana Krivokapić told "Vijesta" yesterday that according to their proposal, salaries in healthcare would increase by about 30 percent on average.
"According to the current coefficients, a doctor with the highest title and three university levels of education has a coefficient for earnings of 11, while a secretary in the state administration with only a law school has a coefficient of 18. We think that this is not fair either because of the responsibility of work, difficult working conditions or the effort invested in education and education", stated Krivokapićeva.
She stated that negotiations with the Ministry of Health are now continuing and that she will not give up on a significant salary increase.
"We are following the negotiations of colleagues in neighboring countries where wages are already continuously increasing, and with this increase that we are proposing, we would only follow them. In our country, the last increase of about five percent was three years ago and inflation canceled it," said Krivokapić.
She says that the problem of medics leaving is also present in Montenegro, but not as much as in Serbia or Croatia.
"Certainly, it is necessary to act to reduce this phenomenon, by increasing wages, investing more in education and better working conditions, as well as solving housing issues. We made a good move with the housing cooperative for healthcare, but it needs more support so that a colleague with ten years of service could get an apartment under more favorable conditions through the cooperative," said Krivokapić.
The budget for net earnings in state health institutions is 58 million. An increase of 30 percent would amount to 17 million euros. Uncollected tax debt amounts to more than 500 million euros, in the last nine years, the government has paid 190 million euros from the budget for failed guarantees, mostly to private companies...
President of the Union of Medical Doctors, Milena Popović Samardžić, says that the starting salary of a doctor in Montenegro is 550 euros, and in Croatia it is XNUMX, while in Serbia it is higher with much lower prices.
"We need an increase in wages of at least 50 percent, because the wages of doctors in Montenegro are the lowest in the region. We work in bad conditions and are overloaded with obligations, there are not enough doctors, and because of all this, both we and the patients suffer. Many colleagues are just finishing administrative procedures and learning languages in order to go to work abroad next year, where our work is more appreciated", said Popović Samardžić.
She said that the salary increase will be delayed, citing the example of Romania.
"Due to the large number of doctors leaving Romania, their salaries were increased from 600 to 2.000 euros, but they did not return. We can only reduce the departure of some new ones", believes Popović Samardžić.
Striković: If the government continues like this, it will destroy public health
The SDP submitted an initiative for a consultative hearing of the Minister of Health before the Parliamentary Committee on Health to discuss salary increases and the state of health institutions.
The vice president of SDP, doctor Adnan Striković, says that the migration of health workers has become a reality and a problem for Montenegro as well.
"Some countries, such as Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria or Romania, saw the monthly salary as one of the main reasons for the outflow of medical staff, so they implemented serious measures in that direction. So today, say in Romania, the starting salary for a general practitioner is 1.950 euros, and specialists have over 4.000. The lowest salary of a nurse with secondary education is 950 euros. Neighboring countries also regularly increase salaries, so I ask when the Government of Montenegro plans to increase the basic salaries of healthcare workers. If you intend to do that after joining the EU, it will be too late," Striković said.
He says that if Montenegro continues this ignorant policy towards healthcare, it will sooner be left without public healthcare than it will enter the EU.
"The SDP prefers and proposes a broader social dialogue in which the SDMCG would be involved, although still unrepresentative, as well as the Medical Chamber as an umbrella professional association. Serious problems, such as the outflow of professional medical personnel, must be solved by serious people, serious experts, in a serious Government. Do we have that in Cna Gora", said Striković.
He calls on the Government to take steps that will first reduce and eventually stop the departure of healthcare workers.
"Get rid of initiatives and projects like central appointment scheduling, which represent a classic time-buyer and essentially mean nothing. In medias res, the ancient Latins would say, and we say to you, tackle the core issues. Do not mislead medical workers and citizens, because medical workers are necessary for citizens, and citizens are very necessary for the state. And healthy citizens, as the pillar of every healthy state," said Striković.
Bonus video:
