Tivat is the 12th city in Montenegro where the Union of the Igalo Institute and the Union of Free Trade Unions of Montenegro, with the support of the Municipality of Herceg Novi, organized the signing of a petition to save the Institute.
In the two hours that the stands where the petition could be supported were open on the city waterfront and Pine promenade, the petition was signed by a large number of citizens of Tivat, as well as tourists and several public figures who consider it unacceptable that this renowned medical and health tourism institution should be shut down under the burden of debts and carelessness of the state of Montenegro as its leading owner.
The President of the Union of the Igalo Institute, Marija Obradović, told the "News" that she was very satisfied with the reaction of the people of Tiv, as well as the residents of all the other cities in Montenegro where they organized the signing of the petition because, as she said, "the citizens realized that the Igalo Institute is our - all citizens of Montenegro, especially patients and other people who need rehabilitation, and they can only get it at the Institute".
"Everyone seems to have understood that and we, the workers at the Institute, all the citizens and all our patients, have united around this, the reactions are incredible, and we are especially impressed when we hear from our patients that thanks to the Institute and its workers, these people experienced a drastic change in the quality of their life for the better or recovered from many major health problems or the consequences of injuries. This is something that ultimately makes us happy as doctors and as all the workers of the Igalo Institute," said Obradović.
She pointed out that the campaign they are running is aimed specifically at the Government of Montenegro, "to which it seems that its own citizens must explain with a petition that it should preserve the Institute because there is no alternative for it when it comes to the rehabilitation of health insurance in Montenegro, and the Institute is both the backbone and the umbrella institution. health tourism in Montenegro".
"No government should ever, firstly, bring us to this state by long-term carelessness and failure to solve problems that have been present for a long time, and secondly, make us fear that there is a great danger that the Igalo Institute will be closed. No government should doubt that it is worth saving the Igalo Institute because the amount of 40-50 million that would help us is small compared to what Montenegro will have to invest if the Institute collapses", Obradović pointed out, adding that it is particularly sad that "those 220 thousand square meters of land on which the Institute rests, for some more important than all the people who work there and the natural resources that Igalo has as a health resort."
The Vice President of the Municipality of Herceg Novi Mirko Mustur told the "News" that the local administration of Herceg Novi supported the efforts of the Institute's trade union from the very beginning to ensure that the institution survives and survives, and that the Municipality should use all its possibilities to help the institution and its workers.
"However, I am afraid that precisely in those ministries where the understanding of an institution like this and its importance for the entire country is most needed, there is no such exchange, and I think that is the key problem in this whole situation," concluded Mustur.
The General Secretary of the Union of Free Trade Unions of Montenegro, Srđa Keković, emphasized that for almost three years now, they have been fighting with the Union of the Igalo Institute to finally recognize the Institute as something of special value and importance for the state of Montenegro.
He pointed out that the initial electronic signing of the petition to save the Institute resulted in 6.000 signatures collected in less than two days, and that now by signing directly on the ground, in the 11 municipalities visited so far, in just 22 hours of booth operation, over 9.000 signatures of citizens have been collected .
The signing will only be intensified by trade union organizations that are members of the USS after the end of the vacation season.
"This is our form of support because you yourself know that we cannot go on strike at the Institute, because that way we would shut down the Institute ourselves. The situation is urgent because there are already about a hundred workers - medical and catering staff, who are in high demand on the market of work in Europe, left the Institute due to non-payment of salaries. Therefore, we must sound the alarm and tell this Government first and foremost that a solution must be found and the Institute and its employees must be saved. If in the meantime we lose the people who work at the Institute, then all the money we would have saved that institution", Keković said.
He rejected claims that are occasionally heard in the public that the Institute will not survive because it is allegedly not profitable, pointing out that "profit is not only in money, but also in some much more important, other things, so the Igalo Institute and, for example, KBC make us a profit because they treat our people ".
"And the Igalo Institute, bearing in mind its professional rating in Europe, can certainly make a profit and return to the state what it would have invested in it now," Keković concluded.
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