The future of health care in Croatia

The future of health care in Croatia Most of the time, I criticize the moves of the health administration or write about the scandals in the field, but rarely I discuss possible solutions for the catastrophic situation in the health care system. If at a conference or in a TV program I am asked about it, to save the time I stick to the political reality and claim that I see no solutions since, without nitpicking, I cannot name a single one among the Croatian politicians who could make some serious changes in the system. All our politicians dealing with health care have either already had their turn in the governing position in health care, have not shown enough competence or interest in the health care issues, or are themselves part of the dysfunctional health care processes (mostly all of these possibilities). Since the system's destiny depends solely on them because the profession and ethics already atrophied, chances for any serious change are slim. Is this too rough an estimate? Unfortunately no, since only a succession of completely incompetent governing officials and a lack of all critical reasoning have brought us into this situation. Let me tell you an anecdote that says a lot. A few months ago, I was invited by a small political party, whose members I respect a great deal so I would not like to name anyone , to join their health committee. I said that I could only serve the function of a professional consultant since I do not see myself as a member of any party. This proposal was immediately rejected as they generally do not want a professional consultant. Then I, out of curiosity, asked what their program was and got a reply that they did not have any program yet but that they presumed that we were on the same side since I had written a lot against Andrija He-brang, a politician from the longest ruling, right wing political party, Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ). This is a paradigmatic example since it says a lot how health care issues are perceived in Croatia. First, I have never written 'against Andrija Hebrang' , but just criticized his moves in the health care system and wrote about some corruption scandals he was involved in. This has nothing to do with health care reforms, only that some policies that were introduced by Hebrang as the Minister …