At its second sitting held on 3 and 5 September, the Committee on Health and the Family discussed the Proposal of the Committee’s work plan and programme for the rest of 2008.

The sitting was chaired by the Committee Chairman Dr Paja Momcilov.

At the beginning of the sitting, the Committee Chairman presented the Proposal of the work plan and programme to the Committee members outlining the basic tasks that the Committee will tackle in the upcoming period. He proposed a work dynamics of at least one sitting a month, as well as the topics that the Committee will discuss. According to the Proposal, the Committee will pay particular attention to the health protection of the most vulnerable population categories, issues concerning the family, strategy of combating chronic non-communicable diseases, health and protection of the elderly in Serbia, women’s health, women’s reproductive health and right in Serbia today. The Committee Chairman particularly stressed that besides its regular legislative activities, the Committee will also have a monitoring and controlling role. It was also proposed to continue working on the citizen’s proposals, as well as to further the cooperation with the other committees of the National Assembly, cooperation with the Ministry of Health, representatives of patients’ associations and special non-governmental organisations.

During the discussion of the Proposal of the work plan and programme, the Committee members expressed their opinions concerning the topics the Committee will deal with for the rest of the year. The Committee members paid particular attention to the economic issues in the health sector, the issue of mentally challenged persons, mental health and mental illnesses, as well as to the drafting of bills to systematically organise certain areas of the health care system. The Committee decided to hold a sitting by the end of September attended by the Minister of Health so that the Committee members can be briefed on the current issues and the Ministry’s plan of activities for the upcoming year.

The Committee members agreed that, due to the scope of the topics and the importance of health issues, the Proposal of the work plan and programme be supplemented by suggestions voiced at the sitting, as well as to have the proposed text adopted in the continuation of the second sitting on Friday, 5 September.

The Committee also named the members of the Working Group that will in the upcoming period deal with citizens’ proposals, comprising deputies Djura Mucenski from the Deputy Group For European Serbia, Predrag Mijatovic from the Serbian Radical Party Deputy Group and Simo Vukovic from the G17 Plus Deputy Group.

In the continuation of the sitting, on 5 September, the Committee Chairman recapped all the proposals, after which the Committee members unanimously adopted the Committee’s work plan and programme with the calendar of the sittings for the rest of 2008.