About 400 ambulance drivers, nurses and ambulance technicians went on strike in Croatia which will last until the demands are met.
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They demand that the salaries of all drivers in the ambulance system are equalized.
The strike covers eight counties and cities where health care is under health centers - Karlovac, Krapina-Zagorje County, Slavonski Brod, Knin, Vukovar, Bjelovar-Bilogora County, Novalja, Sibenik, Drnis, Pozega and Nova Gradiska.
In seven counties - Zadar, Sisak-Moslavina, Koprivnica-Križevci, Virovitica-Podravina, Zagreb, Split-Dalmatia and Dubrovnik-Neretva, the ambulance is under the departments of emergency medicine. They cannot strike but they will work exclusively according to the regulations on ambulance transport.
The strike will last until a decree is passed which would equalize the salaries of ambulance drivers at the level of the entire country, which differ by 1,500 kuna (200 euros), depending on the county.
"Numerous transports announced for next week have been postponed. Most problems will be in smaller cities and areas where the majority of the population is dependent on ambulance transport, which will be denied. For example, the directors of some health centers they called on them to 'manage as they know'," they stated in the Trade Union.
The union reminded that negotiations with the Ministry of Health on the coefficients of ambulance drivers have been going on for 10 years, and the Ministry is now sending them a letter stating that it is not their employer.
According to the rules, every ambulance should have a nurse with the driver. Knin ambulance manager Manda Vukoja told the Croatian Television that they have ten drivers and, at best, four nurses. Nurses sometimes go to clinics, so just two or three of them stay with the ambulance. Vukoja also says that five patients are driven in one vehicle so that one nurse can see them all.
Ambulance employs are also asking for seniority that was taken away from them 23 years ago. Singers, dancers, flight controllers, tram drivers have seniority but not employees in ER ambulance. ■