Experience from the Croatian Parliament

Zagreb, Croatia 2020.

With the dissolution of the convocation of the Croatian Parliament, my role as an external member of the Committee on Health and Social Policy of the Croatian Parliament ceased. I was elected as an external member of the Committee on the proposal of my Croatian Diplomatic Club and support from the members of parliament from the north of Croatia.

The meetings of the Committee were filled with interesting discussions, especially thematic ones, which were very often related to current topics and issues in Croatian healthcare sistem: related to drug use, tobacco use, mandatory vaccination program, obesity awareness, public health and food safety, child psychiatry, the issue of nurses, the availability of therapy and treatment of rare diseases, autism, the fight against cancer and the creation of an oncology registry, international humanitarian law, the organization of emergency helicopter service in Croatia, and many others.

Of particular interest was the session of the Committee, which discussed the impact of the shortage of doctors on the perspective of the functional sustainability of the health system. Namely, in the discussion on this topic, a realistic presentation of the unpleasant situation in Croatian health care was obtained. Namely, the basis of problems and mutual disputes is the clash of highly set criteria of legislation, patients’ rights and imperatives of quality of medical services on the one hand, and the number and rights of doctors and health personnel, organization and financing of health services on the other. Aware of the real facts and the state of the Croatian health care system, the members of the parliamentary committee, which consists mostly of doctors, expressed their views in support of changes in the system of negotiating the rights of doctors and improving the organization of their work.

It is worth mentioning that at one of the last sessions of the Committee, back in February this year, we had the opportunity to discuss the readiness and organization of the Croatian health system to respond to the COVID19 pandemic. The actuallity of the topic, the importance of the timely reaction of the Committee and the knowledge that the then interlocutors are today members of the Croatian Crisis Staff who stand behind the excellent Croatian result in the fight against the pandemic, give me additional conviction that the past work of the Committee was quality.

This is the end of an extremely interesting four-year mandate of socializing with fellow doctors, nurses and representatives of the health and social profession in the Republic of Croatia.
Most of us, after a certain period of life, especially in a career, almost always have the impression that more could have been done. But the experience of working in a parliamentary environment, above all the opportunity to freely express my ideas, participate in debates, make decisions and make legislative proposals, leaves an immense wealth for the further course of my career.

Experience from the Croatian Parliament

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