Health institutions without management until DPS "weighs in"

The mandates of the boards of directors in most health centers, as well as in the "Danilo I" hospitals in Cetinje and Kotor, which by law last four years, have long since expired.

Comparing the decisions on the appointment of the board of directors, it is found that the mandate of the management bodies has expired in the health centers in Andrijevica, Berane, Pljevlja, Herceg Novi, Ulcinj, Bar and Kotor.

They will, however, be in effect until new ones are elected.

The Ministry of Health responded to "Vijesti" that they launched an initiative to adopt a new law on health care, which will clearly define the procedures for electing directors of health institutions and management boards:

"Immediately after the entry into force of the new law, that procedure will be started".

However, MP Pozitivna and member of the Health, Labor and Social Welfare Committee Srđan Perić claims that the re-elections are not held on time, due to "weighing" in the ruling coalition.

The "weighings", he explained, refer to which of the party people should be placed in one of the managerial positions.

Perić assessed that, with the help of the ruling coalition, the health institutions were made into party fiefdoms and that the party's interests were above the public's interest in having an organized health care system.

"Vijesti" previously announced that the directors of practically all health institutions are members of DPS. Three institutions are headed by members of the SDP, and only the director of the Health Center in Danilovgrad, Željko Barović, is not officially a member of the party.

Unlike health centers, boards of directors are appointed in almost all general hospitals. Last year, the Government appointed management bodies in the Tivat Hospital, the Dobrota Special Hospital for Psychiatry and the Institute for Emergency Medical Assistance.

In the Bjelopolje Hospital, where five babies were infected in November, one of whom died, the board of directors resigned, and a new one should be elected soon.

Directors will be appointed by the Government

Amendments to the law stipulate that health centers combine multiple levels of health care, and that the board of directors is not a mandatory organ of a health institution, except in the Clinical Center, the Institute of Public Health and other reference institutions. Also, the directors of hospitals and health centers in that case would be appointed by the Government, on the proposal of the Ministry of Health, and not by the board of directors as per the current law.