At the sitting held on 16 September, the Committee on Health and the Family discussed the study on public expenditure in the Republic of Serbia, titled “Serbia: How to Accomplish More with Less”, drafted by World Bank experts.

Committee Chairman Dr Paja Momcilov opened the discussion also attended by the representatives of the Ministry of Health, Serbian Health Council, Ministry of Finance, Republic Institute for Social Insurance, Serbian Association of Doctors, City of Belgrade Secretariat for Health Care, Serbian Chamber of Health Care Institutions, Serbian Association of Private Doctors, Serbian Association of Private Doctors and Dentists and Serbian Association of Health Service Beneficiaries.

Following a short discussion the Committee unanimously adopted the following

CONCLUSIONS

1. The Committee on Health and the Family applauds the World Bank Report titled “Serbia: How to Accomplish More with Less” as a well-meaning wish to help Serbia, currently in transition and a difficult economic situation.

2. We are particularly grateful for the donation of funds which financed the drafting of the report.

3. We welcome the suggestions for improving the system of financing delineated in the part regarding health care and aimed at achieving better efficiency by introducing a capitation system in financing primary health care doctors and paying for hospital care services based on DRG.

4. The Committee believes that the authors failed to make enough of an effort to gain a more realistic insight into the state of public health and define the main problems in Serbia’s health care system.

5. The Committee members are not convinced that all the other proposed measures will bring about any real improvement in efficiency and effectiveness of the health care system (closing and merging “primary health care clinics”, cutting the staff in “primary health care clinics” and hospitals, and re-examining the benefit packets and use of high technology).

The Committee members went on to discuss the proposals forwarded to the Committee on Health and the Family by citizens and organizations.

The sitting was chaired by Committee Chairman Dr Paja Momcilov.