Virtually all countries report a gap between the budget allocated for health care
and the demand placed on the system by its users. This gap is more pronounced in developing
countries, and is even further exacerbated in a transitional country like Serbia and
Montenegro (S&M). This country experienced more than a decade of civil war and international
isolation in addition to its transition from communism to a market economy. SWOT analysis
has identified the main weaknesses of the S&M public health care system as insufficient
funding, low quality and ineffectiveness, lack of continuing education for medical
professionals and their low motivation. Funding pressure has led to a search for cost-containment
measures and inevitably results in various forms of „rationing“ or „priority setting“
which translates into an unequal access to health care and periodic protests and strikes
of health workers demanding higher pay. Interestingly enough, in Serbia and Montenegro,
there appears to be no visible and/or organized patient (citizen) protest to demand
improvements in public services.
On the basis of positive experiences in some developed countries (e.g. UK, the Netherlands)
and some developing countries (e.g. India), we propose a three-pronged reform model:
-
rationing of health care as a temporary „stop-gap“ solution,
-
general management system overhaul and
-
introduction of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) as an example of increased
resource productivity.
Keywords:
Public health care, Serbia and Montenegro, Complementary and Alternative Medicine.
Schlüsselwörter:
Öffentliches Gesundheitswesen, Serbien und Montenegro, Komplementäre und Alternative
Medizin.
Korrespondierender Autor: Liliana Goliani DMD, Ph.D, D.Hom.Med, Oivivio Holistic Center, Kneginje Zorke 9A/21,
11000 Belgrade, Serbia
E-Mail: liliana@oivivio.net
