Insight view

THE COUNTRY: PUBLIC GOODS
CARE ABOUT HEALTH OF CITIZENS
The last position among 35
European health systems
Although, according to the Constitution and the Law on Health Care,
every citizen of Montenegro shall be entitled to health care pursuant
to the highest attainable health standards and developments of the
modern medical theory, the situation in reality is, unfortunately, completely
different.
Montenegro holds the last position on the list of 35 European health systems in this year’s Report
of the Euro Health Consumer Index (EHCI). In 2015, our country scored 23 points more as compared
with 2014. However, this was not sufficient to move from the last position on the list. The
report states that Montenegro is a country with the population of only 650,000 inhabitants, implying
that the reforms could be implemented very quickly. EHCI analyzes national health systems
on the basis of 48 indicators that include fields such as rights and information of patients, access
to health care, outcomes of treatment, scope of services, prevention, and use of pharmaceutical
products. Why is this the case? Insufficient dedication of the most responsible persons to the
problems in the health system, insufficient involvement, lack of professional relation of the pivots
of the system and, essentially, their legal and moral (ir)responsibility.
Law in favor of private health institutions
Recently, the newly adopted Law on Networking of Private Health Institutions is the focus of attention.
The law was voted on three years ago with the intention of trying to unburden the Clinical Centre of Montenegro
as a major health institution and to reduce the period of waiting for certain specialist check-ups.
This motive is more than legitimate. However, the law in itself did not regulate a number of other issues,
especially the field relating to the mechanisms of controlling potential abuse. As a result, the majority of
doctors-specialists from the Clinical Centre work in a freelance capacity in many private health institutions.
This indicates that there is a space for a huge conflict of interest, so “fictional” patients waiting lists were
created very quickly. According to the data of the non-governmental organization “Krug života”(“Circle of
Life”), which deals with the protection of patients’ rights, a negative trend has been noticed in terms of
the financing of certain specialist departments within state-owned institutions, which directly affects their
work and leads to their silent closure.
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