The initiator of the initiative to introduce menstrual leave, independent MP Jevrosima Pejović, appeared on TV Vijesti's Boje jutra and stressed that she expects support from both her colleagues from the Women's Club and her male colleagues when the initiative is on the plenary agenda. She also addressed comments that the leave is unnecessary and that it would lead to abuse.
"The number of women who would use this right is really negligible. It would only be two days. It would not apply to those women who suffer from primary dysmenorrhea, because the pain is subjective, but from secondary dysmenorrhea where doctors could clearly determine the cause of that pain. We have people in the system that we pay. Now the reform of the Inspection Affairs Directorate has also taken place and inspections are within the ministries. The government can, I assume, control this more easily, so this argument does not hold up and I do not expect anyone, especially someone from the ruling majority, to use it as a reason why this initiative should not be adopted, because that would be a de facto admission of the institutions' inaction, and I do not believe that it is worth it to anyone," Pejović pointed out.
The head of gynecology at the Podgorica Health Center, Dr. Željka Stevović, pointed out that between 5 and 15 percent of women have this problem.
"If we know how many such patients are currently reporting, we know that the number should not increase significantly. Now the question is, if we were to actually introduce it, would it increase it and to what extent? Because as we know, physiologically, that someone can bleed normally every three to five weeks. Women who get it more often, if they have some problem, of course they would miss more work. Whether someone would abuse it, that is really an individual matter and of course a lot depends on the method, or the business environment itself. Not every job is equally demanding, although it goes without saying that during the cycle itself you should not, let me say, be totally inactive because that ultimately encourages that pain, a symptom that is very significant and that prevents us from working, to be even more prominent. In a way, that is very difficult to answer that question, because pain is subjective, not everyone's pain threshold is the same," Stevović pointed out.
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