The Union of Trade Unions of Medical Doctors and Dentists of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) has warned the Government of the FBiH that if it does not receive an answer to the demands sent more than 40 days ago by October 17th, doctors throughout the FBiH will go on strike.
The Union announced that four months ago they submitted an initiative to the FBiH Government to standardize the rights of doctors.
One meeting
“To date, we have had one meeting with FBiH Prime Minister Niksic and Federal Minister of Health Nediljko Rimac, where we informed them of the differences in the rights of doctors in certain cantons and the problem of doctors leaving small cantons,” the Union stated.
More than 40 days have passed since then, and they have not yet received an answer as to whether the FBiH Government is ready to solve the issue of healthcare or whether it will allow the citizens of certain cantons to have no one to treat them.
They emphasized that today the Posavina Canton does not have a single cardiologist, and only one anesthesiologist, Canton 10 has two anesthesiologists, and the situation is no better in other branches of medicine.
The needs of the population
“The population needs health care 24 hours a day, and, unfortunately, this number of doctors cannot provide it. In Canton Sarajevo (CS), a doctor’s salary is 50 percent higher than a doctor in Orasje, what motive do we give doctors to stay in small communities,” they asked.
The Union warned that if they do not receive a response to the initiative from the FBiH Government by October 17th, they will make a decision on the date of the warning strike, and it is up to the Government to take a step, stop the strike and show that they are the Government that cares equally about the population in small cantons as well as in large cantons, Avaz reports.
Photo: archive