Since the beginning of this year, the health inspectorate has fined the elected doctors twice with fines of 500 euros each, and health centers with 1.000 euros each for illegal sick leave. In two cases, they claim in this inspection, the responsible persons in those health institutions were also punished and they were also fined 500 euros each.
The Directorate for Inspection Affairs (UIP) said that in one case, in accordance with the Law on Data Collections in the Health Care Field, due to an established violation related to incomplete data entry in medical documentation, violation orders were issued to a specialist doctor and a responsible person in the amount of 50 euros . In the second case, they claim, no offense was established by the specialist doctor.
According to their reply to the "News", the inspection acted in those cases on the basis of the report of the Health Insurance Fund (FZO) Commission, which found that sick leave was determined contrary to the law.
The UIP clarified that, according to the new Law on Mandatory Health Insurance, the verification of temporary incapacity for work determined by the selected team or the selected doctor is done by a committee formed by the Health Insurance Fund.
"... While the verification of temporary incapacity for work determined by the competent medical commission is carried out by a commission formed by the Ministry of Health", they clarified.
The UIP pointed out that these commissions are made up of doctors specializing in occupational medicine and doctors specializing in the respective branches of medicine, depending on the type of illness or injury.
They also explained that Article 37 of the Law stipulates, among other things, that in the event of suspicion that the selected team or the selected doctor did not determine the temporary inability to work in accordance with Article 36, the FZO can, at the request of the employer or ex officio, submit request to initiate the procedure for checking the temporary inability to work to the Ministry.
"When the procedure for checking the temporary inability to work is initiated at the request of the employer, the costs for the work of the aforementioned commissions are borne by that employer, in accordance with the law," said the UIP.
They explained that the health inspection does not have the authority to check temporary incapacity for work, that is, it did not have supervision to control the legality of established sick days in 2022 and 2023.
On the other hand, the health inspection can control the medical documentation that was created as a result of the determination of temporary incapacity for work in accordance with the Law on data collections in the field of health and the Law on health care.
In one case, in accordance with the Law on Data Collections in the Field of Health, due to an established violation related to the incomplete entry of data into the medical documentation, misdemeanor orders were issued to the specialist doctor and the responsible person in the amount of 50 euros
According to FZO data, 16.000 sick leaves were opened in Montenegro last year, which cost the state nine million euros. Due to temporary inability to work, 2023 working days were lost in 128.335.
Director of the FZO Vuk Kadic he recently said that this institution allocates between nine and ten million euros per year for reimbursement of sick leave. He claims that this is not the final figure because sick leave up to 60 days is borne by the employer.
"It does not mean that the number of sick days is increasing, because as salaries increase, so do refunds," Kadić said and reminded that the Health Insurance Fund does not refund sick leave of companies that are financed from the budget. He estimated that, if these are combined, we can talk about a figure of 40 to 50 million euros that is spent on all sick leave on an annual basis.
Kadić recently told the Television of Montenegro (TVCG) that it is difficult to retroactively check sick leave, that they only check suspicious cases, and that the competence of the Health Insurance Fund is only to terminate sick leave.
"We do not have the right to impose sanctions on the patient, and the report is sent to the Ministry of Health for further processing and the chosen doctor who opened the sick leave and the specialist", announced Kadić.
16 thousand sick leaves were opened last year, and according to information from the Health Insurance Fund, 2023 working days were lost in 128.335
The government recently made a decision to form a National Commission for the control of temporary incapacity for work. The commission for sick leave was formed at the proposal of the Minister of Health Vojislav Šimun. The President of the Commission is the Deputy Prime Minister for Labour, Education, Health and Social Affairs Srđan Pavićević. The task of the newly formed commission, the Ministry announced, is to identify and analyze the problems and causes of sick leave abuse, determine priorities and effective measures and methods in terms of developing and strengthening policies in this area, as well as propose measures to improve the regulatory and institutional framework in areas of adequate control of temporary incapacity for work. In addition to Pavićević and Šimun, the Minister of Labor and Social Welfare is also a member Naida Nišić, Minister of Finance Novica Vuković, Minister of Economic Development Nick Djelosaj, Minister for Human and Minority Rights Fatmir Đeka, Minister of Justice Andrej Milović, as well as the director of FZO Kadić, adviser to the Prime Minister for economic policy Milena Milović and representatives of the Chamber of Commerce, the Union of Employers, the Union of Free Trade Unions, and the Confederation of Trade Unions of Montenegro.
According to the Government, the commission will meet quarterly, and if necessary, more often.
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