Health minister happy with cut of budget pie

The 2009 budget will help create a sustainable healthcare system, said Health Minister Tomica Milosavljevic today. Milosavljevic told B92 that EUR 144mn from the budget would be spent on healthcare, allowing the majority of planned activities and projects to be carried out. Health minister happy with cut of budget pie "Serbia does not splash out a lot of money when it comes to healthcare, and we try to save money wherever possible,” the minister said. Milosavljevic said that healthcare contributions from the poorest sections of society could be scrapped in coming years, with the burden being shifted on to the working population. He said that the majority of this would go on the salaries of healthcare workers, while 15 to 20 percent would be spent on medication, clinical centers and hospitals. "Healthcare employees need to realize that they are not an island in Serbia, as Serbia’s not an island in Europe, and that it is not realistic to expect the General Collective Agreement to be applied next year,” he said, adding that it was essential that healthcare workers be “properly remunerated for their work.” Asked about the impact of the additional working hours for doctors that are due to come into effect on December 11, the minister said that only the owners of private clinics objected to such measures since it would cut into their profits, and that doctors would be able to organize their own working hours themselves and earn more money. "This is one of the ways to get younger doctors into work,” Milosavljevic said. He added that bad individual examples of treatment did not mean that the healthcare system was not functioning, adding that each case would be thoroughly investigated.

Health minister happy with cut of budget pie

"Serbia does not splash out a lot of money when it comes to healthcare, and we try to save money wherever possible,” the minister said.

Milosavljević said that healthcare contributions from the poorest sections of society could be scrapped in coming years, with the burden being shifted on to the working population.

He said that the majority of this would go on the salaries of healthcare workers, while 15 to 20 percent would be spent on medication, clinical centers and hospitals.

"Healthcare employees need to realize that they are not an island in Serbia, as Serbia’s not an island in Europe, and that it is not realistic to expect the General Collective Agreement to be applied next year,” he said, adding that it was essential that healthcare workers be “properly remunerated for their work.”

Asked about the impact of the additional working hours for doctors that are due to come into effect on December 11, the minister said that only the owners of private clinics objected to such measures since it would cut into their profits, and that doctors would be able to organize their own working hours themselves and earn more money.

"This is one of the ways to get younger doctors into work,” Milosavljević said.

He added that bad individual examples of treatment did not mean that the healthcare system was not functioning, adding that each case would be thoroughly investigated.