Croatian Doctors and Nurses to Strike Wednesday

Around 70% of the nation’s doctors and nurses are set to go on strike in Croatia on Wednesday 18 September after a two and a half hour meeting between government officials and health sector syndicates on Sunday broke down.

Ministar of Health Rajko Ostojić, who was convinced before the meeting that a settlement could be reached, said that Croatian doctors and nurses were less paid than their colleagues in western Europe, but said they were better paid than the majority of doctors and nurses in Hungary, Czech Republic and Poland.

“We are going on strike. There was no goodwill from the government’s side. We have failed to negotiate. The government has rejected all of our requests,” said President of the Croatian Doctors Syndicate Ivica Babić after a meeting last month to negotiate terms broke down. Croatian Doctors and nurses syndicates are trying to negotiate a new collective agreement with government.