Several thousand health workers, gathered in the Union Zajedno, started a strike today, demanding an improvement in their position and greater material rights, the union reported.
These are mainly laboratory technicians, radiologists, ambulance drivers and pharmaceutical technicians who are looking for an increase in the basic salary by at least 20 percent and fairer coefficients.
According to the union's first data, around 4.000 healthcare workers are on strike in 58 institutions in Croatia, reports Beta.
There are about 80.000 employees in Croatian healthcare.
The union announced that during the strike, which will last until the demands are met, they will only work on emergency cases, and will not perform other diagnostic, laboratory and radiological processing.
Health Minister Vili Beroš downplayed the union's strength, saying the number of workers joining the strike was much smaller and dismissing their demands as "blackmail," Reuters reported.
The Ministry of Health announced earlier that they are ready to talk with all unions, but that they consider that a strike is not an acceptable solution. During the weekend, they told the citizens that they can be calm and that they will be able to perform all examinations.
According to the directors of Croatian hospitals, during the morning, despite the strike of some employees, there were no major difficulties in providing health services to patients, Hina agency reported.
The head of the Department for Medical-Laboratory Diagnostics in the Trade Union Zajedno, Petra Medač Čorak, said this morning that her colleagues are under great pressure from directors, bosses and other superiors due to the strike.
She told N1 television that they are threatened with dismissal, change of jobs, but also that patients' health statuses are falsified. In support of this, she cited the fact that at the hospital in Požega, patients who had been on the waiting list for several months appeared in the system this morning as emergency cases, but they were not.
She emphasized that the pressures motivate them to get stuck even more and assessed that the ministry used their empathy and care for patients for months, and therefore did not solve the accumulated problems.
Medac Corak said that the height of carelessness is the decree on coefficients and workplaces, which is devastating for all medical laboratory workers, radiologists, ambulance drivers and pharmaceutical technicians.
Radiologist Marin Tomelić said that the union started negotiations with the government in March, but that there were no satisfactory answers.
"Since then, we have been demoted," Tomelic told Reuters. "For us, the strike is not a goal, but a means to draw the attention of the decision-makers, that is, the ministry and the government," he added, stressing that the strike will end when the demands are met.
Tomelić apologized to all patients who will not be able to receive treatment or diagnostics while the strike lasts.
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