World Health Day 2021: what role for trade unions in building resilient healthcare systems post-Covid19?

On the occasion of the World Health Day, April 7th, and in the frame of the EU-funded project ‘Social talks – social dialogue for a better tomorrow’, CESI and its member Trade Union of Montenegrin Physicians organised a round-table reflection on the needs of our healthcare systems in a post Covid-19 setting for better healthcare provision – with a particular focus on the Western Balkans.

The Coronavirus outbreak provoked a global reassessment of values and placed healthcare systems at the heart of every society. In this window of opportunity it is time for both policy makers, experts and practitioners to come together to create a shared vision and a well-thought action plan for building a genuine and resilient healthcare provision of services.

Long before the crisis, and as a conditio sine qua non for the resilience of any society, CESI has advocated for more investment in the health sector and in its professionals. Due to the pandemic, health staff has faced greater safety risks at work and suffered additional major work overload.

Challenges related to lacking capacities in terms of personnel and equipment, as well as deficient work organization, worsened. Good working conditions, fair equal pay and access to enough effective remedies for fighting understaffing are a major issue.

Trade unions and social dialogue are of major importance for the efficiency and the sustainability of our healthcare systems. To strengthen our healthcare systems, deficient infrastructure, the lack of equipment and staff, and not least poor working conditions and remuneration need to be addressed.

Added to (or because of this), regions like the Western Balkans suffer from tremendous brain drain of qualified workforce. Social dialogue and effective interest representation in the process of the design and reform of the healthcare systems are crucial.

In many countries of the Western Balkans, social dialogue structures have only reluctantly been put in place over the years. This particularly applied to the public health sector. Due to the ‘essentiality’ of the services provided, social dialogue and involving the workforce in decision-making seemed unfitted for the sector.

The round-table brought together European and national policy makers, practitioners and policy experts from the EU and Western Balkans. The detailed agenda can be visited here (add PDF). The testimonies from TU representatives and practitioners from Montenegro, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Serbia, Austria and Italy underlined the urgency of investment, recruitment, improvement of working conditions and social dialogue. The Montenegrin Health Minister Jelena Borovinić, the deputy Chairwoman of the Parliament Branka Bosnjak, and MEP Lukas Mandl highlighted the fundamental importance of public health for the resilience of societies and the well-being of the people, and the crucial role of trade unions in delivering high quality public health services. Klaus Heeger, CESI Secretary General stated: ‘A well performing public health system needs the involvement of the workforce. Information, consultation and participation of the workforce remains decisive for the sustainability of our healthcare systems.’

Milena Popovic, representing the Montenegrin Trade Union of Physicians, emphasized the importance of improving working conditions for medical staff: ‘In order to build resilient health systems at national level we need to invest in our healthcare provision and to offer good working conditions for our doctors: it is the only way to ensure quality medical service while preventing their doctors from ‘migrating’ towards private healthcare systems or in other EU countries.’