Thirty-four doctors from the Livno County Hospital and the Livno Health Center announced that they would resign on Monday, July 6, at 8 a.m., dissatisfied with the attitude of the Government of the Herzeg-Bosnia Canton (HBŽ) and the relevant ministry towards their requests for improved material rights.
As Jandre Hrgić, MD, a pediatric specialist, told Fena, the doctors decided to take this step after, as they claim, they had exhausted previous forms of warning and addressing the authorities.
- We have found ourselves in a situation where we have been at the bottom of the material income at the level of the Federation of BiH for years. A colleague in Sarajevo initially has a salary that is about 1,000 marks higher than what we have here in our county. So, the same job, the same scope of work, the same professional qualifications, but significantly lower income – said Hrgić.
The doctors had previously requested negotiations from the HBŽ Government on an increase in hourly wages or coefficients, or the signing of an annex to the collective agreement.
According to Hrgić, they were offered a three percent increase, which they consider unacceptable.
- The salary of a specialist doctor is around 2,650 marks. This increase would mean an additional 70 to 80 marks on the salary, which was unacceptable for us. After the warning strike, we received a statement from the relevant ministry, discussed it at the assembly and realized that they had no intention of doing anything to solve this problem – said Hrgić.
He added that the doctors collected 34 signatures during the week and that it was agreed that the resignations would be submitted on Monday at 8 am to the administrations of health institutions.
- The procedure is individual, each person must personally submit their resignation, but we agreed to do it one by one – explained Hrgić.
In addition to dissatisfaction with salaries, doctors also warn of the overloading of the health system and the shortage of personnel.
- We are in deficit and working beyond our norms. Last month I had nine on-call shifts, and the month before that ten. The legal maximum is about four to five on-call shifts per month, depending on the number of working days. We are exhausted and do not have enough understanding from either the management of health institutions or the founders – said Hrgić.
He added that doctors in the HBŽ have the support of colleagues from other parts of the Federation of BiH, as well as the support of the representative Union of Medical and Dental Doctors.
- At the level of the representative Union of Medical and Dental Doctors, we have absolute support and we expect the President of the Union, Dr. Marina Berberović, to be with us on Monday when we hand in our resignations – said Hrgić.
Let us recall that three unions of health workers recently held a warning strike in Livno, emphasizing that salaries in the health sector in the Herceg-Bosnia Canton are among the lowest in the Federation of BiH.
The HBŽ Government previously stated that the current collective agreement, which lasts until the end of the current year, should be respected.
