During June, 1,027 employees of the Clinical Hospital Centre Split were on sick leave, including 420 nurses and 177 doctors, according to data from the Croatian Health Insurance Institute (HZZO) first reported by Slobodna Dalmacija.
This represents one in four staff members at Croatia's second-largest hospital, occurring at the peak of the tourist season when pressure on the healthcare system in Dalmatia rises further.
Health Minister Irena Hrstić stated she learned of the case from the media and said she would not draw conclusions about potential abuses without detailed data. "I would not like to say without important and targeted data that someone is using sick leave for another purpose, as this is certainly not in accordance with the Labour Act. If someone is on sick leave, it means they are on sick leave due to illness," Hrstić stated, as reported by N1.
As the first measure in such situations, the minister cited sick leave monitoring conducted by the HZZO. She noted, however, that controls cannot be carried out simultaneously in multiple healthcare institutions.
Hrstić also recalled her own experience at the General Hospital Pula, which she led for ten years. She said that even there, she observed periods with increased numbers of sick leave cases.
