ZAGREB CLINICAL HOSPITAL DIRECTOR WRITES TO MESIC, SANADER

ZAGREB, March 31 (Hina) - The head of the Zagreb Clinical Hospital, Josip Paladino, on Wednesday sent a letter to President Stjepan Mesic and Prime Minister Ivo Sanader stating that the hospital's management board at its last session violated the Law on Health Protection because it had failed to adopt the hospital's financial statement for last year before initiating a procedure to replace him.#L# Paladino sent the same letter to Health Minister Andrija Hebrang, Justice Minister Vesna Skare Ozbolt, and some other officials. He said that the hospital's management board did not adopt the financial statement but a conclusion saying that the hospital had incurred a loss of 55 million kuna that was unaccounted for, on the basis of which it initiated the procedure to replace him. Paladino told Hina that he sent a letter to management board chairman Milan Kujundzic dismissing accusations that he was personally responsible for the loss and reiterating that the hospital's financial statement was positive, which was proven by independent experts. The director of the Merkur hospital, Miran Martinac, has two weeks to file a complaint to a decision on his replacement. Martinac told Hina that after yesterday's statements by Hebrang and the head of the Health Insurance Agency, Stjepan Bacic, he expected the hospital's management board to accept his arguments and not replace him. (Hina) rml sb