The Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Croatia, the Independent Croatian Trade Unions, the Croatian Association of Trade Unions and the UNI-CRO services trade union said in a statement that they had supported the "need for a health reform" at the March 20 session of the Economic and Social Council, urging a public debate on the matter and adoption of a national health reform strategy before the proposed health bills were sent to parliament for debate.
The unions claim that the proposed bills contain already known solutions and reflect the government's inability to truly reform the health system.
Before relevant legislation is changed to restrict the rights of insurance policy holders, the health system must be standardised at the national level, a system of monitoring the efficiency of health institutions and electronic health cards must be introduced, the unions said.
The proposed strategy does not define strategic goals, a time framework or institutions that would carry out the reform, the unions said.
On the other hand, the strategy provides for restrictions on public health spending to boost private health spending, the unions said, describing this as inappropriate in light of Croatia's unemployment rate, which they said was among the highest in Europe, and low wages and pensions.