President Milanović Meets with Representatives of Croatian Association for Promotion of Patients’ Rights Seeking a New Law on Patients’ Rights

The President of the Republic Zoran Milanović met today with representatives of the Croatian Association for the Promotion of Patients’ Rights, the only institution in the Republic of Croatia that has been dealing with the protection and promotion of patients’ rights on a professional level for the past twenty years and plays an important role in creating and controlling public actions.

The President of the Association Jasna Karačić Zanetti, professional consultant Ivan Zornada and volunteer Anja Vručina indicated to President Milanović the problem of the inadequate legal regulation of patients’ rights. The Association is therefore seeking the drafting of a new law on the rights and obligations of patients since the existing one was adopted in 2004 and is no longer applicable in practice. Moreover, they noted that all the provisions of this law are being violated and no one is sanctioned.

They feel that patients’ rights are being violated in terms of a lack of information, i.e. poor communication between healthcare workers and patients and that the majority of complaints involve patients not being respected as human beings. They note the main problem of healthcare policyholders are waiting lists for patients, namely not enabling healthcare protection to patients in need of healthcare services. When patients cannot obtain healthcare protection in the public system they have to resort to private practice physicians with no possibility of being reimbursed for their expenses.

Dr. Karačić Zanetti warned that although healthcare reform has already been prepared and presented to the public, no one has contacted the Association with regard to patients’ rights, and that only now representatives of the Association will have an opportunity to talk to the Minister of Health. In the words of the President of the Association, it would be especially important for mandatory training to be introduced by law for healthcare workers, i.e. physicians and administrative staff about patients’ rights.

Association members are experts in the field of medicine and rights from Croatia and abroad who use their knowledge to provide education as well as advice for the best possible protection of patients and citizen-patients who contribute to the goals of the Association with joint decisions, proposals and their experience.

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