President Milanović Meets with Members of Krapina-Zagorje County Multiple Sclerosis Society on the Occasion of National Multiple Sclerosis Patients’ Day
The President of the Republic Zoran Milanović held a meeting with representatives of the Krapina-Zagorje County Multiple Sclerosis Society on the occasion of National Multiple Sclerosis Patients’ Day 26th September and 20 years of the Society’s work.
Representatives of this charity and humanitarian organization acquainted President Milanović with their activities aimed at advancing treatment, research, rehabilitation and protection of persons suffering from multiple sclerosis and related diseases as well as all other persons with disabilities. The Society currently has 183 members from Krapine-Zagorje County.They noted that the County has the highest number of persons suffering from multiple sclerosis in relation to the number of residents compared to all other counties in Croatia.
Croatia numbers approximately 7,000 persons suffering from multiple sclerosis, mostly women. Society members informed President Milanović of the progress in treating this disease, and underlined that treatment today is of better quality and free of charge. Although the disease is incurable, it can be controlled if treated in a timely and quality manner. For multiple sclerosis patients, family support and the support of the community in which they live is very important. The Society is for the most part funded by projects, the European Social Fund, and receives support from relevant ministries.
Speaking about their activities, they noted that they actively contribute to concrete changes in their communities, the implementation of programmes and projects, the co-creation of strategic documents and action plans in the area of social policies and persons with disabilities at the regional level. In that sense they emphasized the implementation of projects ensuring personal assistants for persons with disabilities, projects facilitating the support of psychologists and physiotherapists, support for empowering and employing marginalized groups and ensuring support for educational assistants for elementary and secondary school pupils.
Attending the meeting with President Milanović were the president of the Krapina-Zagorje Multiple Sclerosis Society Nada Smrekar, the executive director of the Federation of Mutiple Sclerosis Societies Dijana Roginić, vice-president and member of the Society’s presidency Neven Miškulin, members of the Presidency Sanja Zrinski, Štefica Pezić and Ivan Šoštar, head Svjetlana Pripeljaš, and project and programme coordinator Nataša Hlaban. Alongside President Milanović was the Adviser to the President for Education Jadranka Žarković.
PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Tomislav Bušljeta