Grujicic: State Doctors Should Not Work in Private Offices, It Leads to Corruption

Family doctors should be re-introduced in Serbia in each quarter of our state. It is necessary to do so in order for us not to waste time, because disease has to be detected on time, so that we could treat people efficiently, the new minister of health, professor Dr Danica Grujicic, said at the Open World Summit.

According to her, a reform of basic healthcare is needed.

– It can’t be done quickly, in order to be efficient. But we mustn’t waste time when the patient arrives, and it will mean a lot to us if we know the family diagnosis in advance. For example, if we know that the grandma had an illness, it will be easier for us to make the diagnosis for the grandchildren. My idea is to have four doctors in each quarter – she says and adds:

– Also, general practitioners are very important, and I believe that they are underused. They are the first ones who should recognize the disease and direct the patient. At some point, we had six times as many specialists and general practitioners. My appeal to the students is not to avoid general medicine, because it is the pillar of healthcare.

According to her, she is not popular among certain colleagues, because she advocates that whoever works as part of the state service should not work in private offices and vice versa.

– I believe that it’s a source of corruption that it has been allowed for doctors to do both private and state practice. I also believe that the digitization of healthcare that the prime minister proposed is a great thing. This will allow me, as the minister, for example, to see at a click of a button how many checks a doctor has done that day, how many surgical procedures, and how much time they’ve spent philosophizing – the minister said.