Director of the Clinical Center of Montenegro (KCCG) Aleksandar Radovic should review the situation at the Clinic for Orthopedics and Traumatology, gather information and request a statement from the Director of the Clinic for Orthopedics Nikola Bulatović regarding the allegations of nine doctors who are against his appointment.
This was the conclusion of the majority of members of the Board of Directors (BOD) of the largest healthcare institution from yesterday's meeting, which was attended by the director and orthopedists dissatisfied with Bulatović's appointment.
Sources who attended the session claim that the atmosphere was lively but tolerant, and that the orthopedists indicated that, if their issue was not resolved, they would leave the KCCG.
They pointed out that they had informed the Minister of Health about the problem. Vojislav Šimun, but also the prime minister Milojko SpajićAt the session, some orthopedists claimed that Bulatović allegedly threatened them after the letter was made public.
"Vijesti" reported two days ago that the KCCG had revoked the consent for additional work for nine orthopedists to work outside the institution for a period of six months. This was done after the doctors, dissatisfied with Bulatović's appointment as director of the Clinic for Orthopedics and Traumatology, refused to work additional work at their parent institution - the KCCG.
While doctors claim in a statement to "Vijesti" that they perceive the KCCG administration's move as a repressive measure, which will cause suffering to the population in the north and south of the country, the institution says that they are only following regulations and that this measure will not endanger patients.
Namely, they remind that the institution's director is legally obliged to revoke approvals for additional work, among other things because they have only implemented five to ten percent of the services planned to reduce waiting lists.
9 out of 12 orthopedists oppose the appointment of Nikola Bulatović to the Clinic for Orthopedics and Traumatology
Orthopedists claim that due to what they consider to be revanchism, the functioning of the healthcare system will be seriously jeopardized. Protesting against the appointment of Bulatović as director, orthopedists Aleksandar Jušković - former clinic manager, Vladan Ćipović, Marko Borovinić, Ivan Vlahovic, Mile Goločevac, Aleksandar Petricic, Oleg Lakovic, Miodrag Vujadinovic i Igor Mandic, they previously announced a possible suspension of work.
Nine out of 12 orthopedists oppose Bulatović's appointment, while three did not comment.
"We received a decision prohibiting us from working part-time, both in private and public healthcare institutions, and we perceive this as a repressive measure. Of particular concern is the fact that this ban also applies to the Kolašin Health Center, as well as the Clinical Hospital Center in Berane and the General Hospital in Bar. There is no doubt that such a decision will negatively affect the availability of health services to citizens, but also the ability to provide assistance to other general hospitals that are facing a shortage of staff. Such an approach represents a serious threat to the availability of health care and directly affects citizens for whom timely examinations, surgeries and faster treatment are of crucial importance," said one of the orthopedists whose consent for working part-time was revoked.
However, the KCCG said that doctors whose approvals for additional work were revoked, and who opposed the appointment of the acting director of the Clinic, only provided five to ten percent of the services planned to reduce waiting lists in other public health institutions.
They state that most of the work in other public institutions was performed by two doctors whose consents were not revoked, and that the Clinic with 13 specialists is not using its capacities optimally due to working in only one shift, which is why it was decided to change the organization of work.
The Kolašin Health Center, where four orthopedists from the KCCG practice, announced that revoking the doctors' permission to work part-time would have a negative impact on both patients from the territory of the Kolašin municipality and the entire healthcare system. They explained that the four doctors whose permission to work part-time has now been revoked treat between 90 and 100 patients per month in that municipality, which otherwise has no orthopedists.
In a letter to the media from ten days ago, nine doctors claimed that the KCCG management had not officially responded to their letter from May 28, in which they informed the public that they would suspend work if Bulatović was appointed director. They previously accused Bulatović of addressing doctors in an offensive and humiliating manner, limiting their professional autonomy, and denying them the opportunity for professional development.
There are 759 patients on the waiting list for surgeries at the Clinic for Orthopedics. The problem with the huge waiting lists for hip and knee prosthesis implantation has been going on for a long time, and the KCCG management explained this by the lack of operating rooms and the staff being overloaded with emergency conditions, i.e. traumatology. Therefore, it was decided that KCCG orthopedists would perform some of the surgeries on patients at the Clinical Hospital Center in Berane, which has adequate space. However, as announced a few months ago at the session of the Parliament of Montenegro, there were no surgeries in Berane from 15 August last year to 1 February this year.
Minister of Health Vojislav Šimun He then confirmed that he had become involved in solving the problem and that the interventions were being performed in the operating room in Berane.
However, Šimun's department, commenting on the situation at the KCCG Orthopedic Clinic and the fact that Radović withdrew the doctors' consent for additional work outside their home institution, did not provide a precise answer on how work in the north of the country would be organized.
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