ZAGREB, 4 May (Hina) – Croatia is short of 106 paediatricians in its primary healthcare system, prompting counties, towns and municipalities to take various measures to attract paediatric specialists and trainees to their health centres. These include offering company vehicles, paying additional bonuses and covering rental costs.
Leading the way is Koprivnica- Križevci County, where towns offer paediatricians annual financial support of €13,280, a flat, and a car for professional use.
Across Croatia, there are 242 paediatricians currently working as team leaders in primary healthcare. The Croatian Health Insurance Fund (HZZO) has contracts in place for 281 paediatric teams, meaning that 39 paediatric surgeries lack a team leader.
The HZZO network foresees a total of 348 teams, leaving 67 teams without a contract.
In total, Croatia is short of 106 paediatricians in primary healthcare, covering both surgeries without team leaders and uncontracted teams, according to the Croatian Medical Chamber.
The average age of paediatricians is 53, and 90% of them are women.
Of the total number, 34 paediatricians, or 14%, are over the age of 65 – in other words, they are retirees who have remained in the system.
The situation is particularly alarming in Sisak-Moslavina County, where only two paediatricians are working out of the 12 envisaged in the network, a shortfall of 83%. A further five counties are missing 40% or more of their planned paediatricians.
Only three counties – Primorje-Gorski Kotar, Bjelovar-Bilogora and Karlovac – have no shortfall, employing exactly the number of paediatricians required.
“The current situation with paediatricians has been an issue in primary healthcare for the past ten years, and in some areas, I dare say, it is already too late for certain changes. Paediatrics is a very specific field of healthcare and one of the most demanding and difficult specialisations. Since doctors are not opting for paediatrics as a specialisation, particularly not in primary care, it is hard to expect that the situation will improve – not just in our county, but across the whole of Croatia,” Mirjana HanЕѕekoviД‡, director of the Koprivnica- Križevci County Health Centre, told Hina.
