The employees of the Meljine Hospital are protesting in the grounds of that health facility, in order to express their displeasure because the competitions for vacant positions in the hospital are not intended for all employees, but only a part of them.
They requested an urgent meeting with the Minister of Health, Dragoslav Šćekić, and the Prime Minister, Dritan Abazović, because, as they say, the deadlines are very short.
They did not receive their December salary, and they continued their protest in front of the Municipality building, the RTHN portal reports.
The Deputy President of the Municipality, Miloš Konjević, said that he did not participate in the negotiations with the Government, but he guaranteed the workers that he would be with them and that no one would be left without a job, according to the media.
"If necessary, we will be on the street again, blocking Debeli Brijeg and the roundabout in Meljine. A solution must be found for every employee of the Meljine hospital. We will fight together and I think the local administration will be with every employee," he said.
The President of the Municipal Assembly of Herceg Novi, Ivan Otović, said that they failed to establish contact with Minister Šćekić.
"We tried formal ways, informal ways, our headquarters from Podgorica tried to communicate with him, he did not show interest in this city. We did not promise something that could not be fulfilled. Meljine Hospital entered the public health system and we were surprised by the fact that not all workers were taken over, as was the story at all those meetings. We learned that yesterday and we have to take all the steps in our power, but we don't have all the information," Otović said.
The President of the Trade Union, Slavica Drobnjak, asked how absurd it is that someone who has been fighting for the institution for ten years has to apply for the same job he was fighting for, writes the portal RTHN.
"We want an answer as to why the competition did not include 59 workers who did not have a job in this institution on February 1. Probably all of us do not have a job because the contract they offered us lasts until January 31. None of us have a more permanent solution as of February 1. And the story continues about the hospital's earnings, we have not received the salary from December and we do not know when we will receive it or if we will receive it. I ask the question of all those responsible, especially the Ministry of Health, why they announced the vacancy and did not inform the hospital workers. All the workers agreed that nobody will apply for that competition," said Drobnjak.
She asked whether "merging the Meljine hospital with the Kotor hospital deletes the Meljine hospital", and whether "the name of our hospital is deleted and perhaps in such a way it seems to be extinguished".
"These are all the questions we are asking the relevant ministries and the Government. Is this the beginning of the shutdown of the hospital, why did they not inform about the competition, why do they expect us to respond to that competition? If they fought for this institution for 10 years, we fought for it to survive for this city, can we think that this kind of decision is also a fraud on the citizens of Herceg Novi. Should the citizens of Herceg Novi also think in this direction and can we call this a fraud or do they have some other solution? They have not declared themselves. We are asking for statements , the December salary and the answer to whether the merger of the Meljina Kotor hospital is its shutdown? If they have other solutions and if they had other solutions, but they couldn't tell us them, they had to hint them to us," said Drobnjak.
She recalled that they had been to many meetings, "where they were promised that the hospital with all the departments and all the workers would be taken over". "Why do we now have 59 people who are not on the list. What are they going to do," she added.
According to the competition, as she explained, the maternity hospital will not be able to work at one point, surgery will be an emergency service and both departments are under question.
Olivera Doklestić also supported the protest of hospital workers, who pointed out that Herceg Novi has no right to be called a medical city and that "in the future we will be treated with natural herbalists, because we will have nothing left".
"Everything that is happening, starting with the dismissal of the director of the Health Center, the dismissal of the director of the Institute and all this agony that is happening with the hospital is a grave tragedy, not only for the city of Herceg Novi, but for the entire political system of Montenegro. The city of Herceg Novi is run by completely incompetent people , focused only on party and personal interests, scumbags who are incapable of doing anything professionally," said Doklestić.
The problem of the Meljine hospital is the problem of the Kotor hospital and one cannot do without the other, said Savo Marić, acting director of the Dr. Simo Milošević Institute, reports the RTHN portal.
"Herceg Novi must have a hospital that will have to respect its citizens and the tourists who come. The Igalo Institute cannot function if we do not have a hospital nearby, that is, in our city. This topic of the health problem has been raised in the last few months and the solution is slow. The latest decisions, which come from Podgorica, do not go well for us in Herceg Novi, and unfortunately I have to say that we are optimistic again, but we are increasingly losing hope that we will go in that direction. It does not mean that we should give up and we have to solve problems together. I hope that they will appeal to the minds of the people who make decisions, they made promises and that they will fulfill them," he pointed out.
He believes that the "stepmotherly relationship" towards Herceg Novi has continued and that day by day it is shown that there is no desire or real solution to the problems of those two institutions.
"When they are already saying that they have a way, let it be transparent, so that we too can be calm and peaceful knowing that we will sail into calmer waters and that we will have health care in Herceg Novi, but there is no point in living in uncertainty," Marić said. .
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