Andrija Hebrang, government vice-president and Minister of Health and Social Welfare, brought HDZ into a very uncomfortable position again last week with his conduct. He likely has completely countered all the efforts by Premier Ivo Sanader to convince the public that today’s HDZ is no longer the backward, self-willed and arrogant party it was when it lost the 2000 elections. Though he quickly became the most loathed HDZer soon after the 2003 elections, last week, Hebrang managed to surprise everyone again, and has succeeded in uniting the completely apathetic and broken opposition in their demands for his resignation. Furthermore, after Friday’s session of the executive board of the Croatian Health Insurance Board, Hebrang in fact admitted that his management methods and politically motivated staffing selections have failed in health care. With that, Hebrang in fact gave the public and the opposition the most direct cause for legitimate suspicions in the efficiency of the entire HDZ government.

Last Friday, he officially proclaimed a crisis situation in the health care system, and admitted that his politically motivated staffing decisions were unable to affect the growing spending in health care. In the first quarter of 2004, total drug spending grew 15.6% over the year before, with 654 million kuna spent on prescription drugs which is 12% more than planned. Virtually double was spent in supplementary health insurance over last year. Medical equipment and material spending was up 13.7% over the same period last year, while capital investments grew by almost 50%, and salaries were up 1.5% more than planned.

“If this continues at this rate, by year’s end, the health care system will have 3.15 billion kuna more liability than planned, and then the International Monetary Fund will no longer want to even hear from me,” complained Hebrang openly, fearing that he would be unable to control the budget deficit according to IMF recommendations. As before, Hebrang tried to shift all the blame onto his predecessors.

If such rhetoric, as a typical expression of verbal superiority over the defeated poltical rivals was somewhat understandable at the end of 2003, today it only goes to show that Hebrang is proving to be a politician whose approach to resolving the complex problems in health care is completely unsuccessful. The only people to blame for the uncontrolled growth of health spending are “Hebrang’s men”. Those are Stjepan Bačić, president of the board of HZZO and Većeslav Bergman, director of HZZO, who replaced Ljubica Djukanovic.

Last week, Bačić commented that during Hebrang’s mandate, the debt to suppliers by clinical hospitals had grown 50%. Those debts grew by 29% in general hospitals and 8% in specialized hospitals. Hebrang announced that he would begin calling in hospital directors, his political allies, as he has consistently been replacing hospital directors since coming into office, claiming that this is a political function. These discussions are only further proof of his failed staffing policy. Hebrang’s opponents also claim that he should quickly decide who is to be held accountable for what, as they believe that it is not possible for the heads of HZZO to be responsible in one case and the hospital director in another for the same problem.

Hebrang also complained of sleeping poorly. He was up two nights straight over the increased spending, lost many nights over the capital investments, primarily at Rebro Hospital. However, his opponents have commented for Nacional that he failed to explain that during his mandate, those capital investments have increased by 50%.

No one, not even his strongest opponents, have resented Hebrang’s efforts and intentions to bring financial discipline to health care. However, he has been criticized for completely paralyzing the system with his conduct: he appointed political figures who fear him, while in the meantime, he is overloaded with other economic problems and activities, and no one in health care will dare to do anything on their own initiative without his approval.

Two nights prior to proclaiming a crisis in the health care system, Hebrang tried to apply pressure on Sanja Mikleušević, editor of the evening news program Dnevnik on HTV just prior to going on air. She claims that Hebrang called her twice that evening and demanded that HTV broadcast a correction of the piece which directly criticized the way the government wanted to non-transparently hand over the management of the company Sunčani Hvar to the fund run by former HDZ Finance Minister Borislav Škegro.

The government wanted to hand over the company to Skegro’s fund for management, by the public-private partnership model. Only once the media seriously criticized this approach did the government decide to issue a public tender for this privatization model. Before that happened, though, Hebrang openly defended this privatization model at the 5 May government session, claiming that the government could not issue a public tender for the privatization of the company, because there is a ban against 28% of the company’s shares, which was sought in court by the Pleter Fund.

However, last Wednesday, Dnevnik broadcast that the High Commercial Court had removed this ban in February. Hebrang was very angry, as HTV allegedly did not announced that the proceedings was still ongoing for procedural reasons. For that reason, he called Sanja Mikleušević and immediately demanded a correction.

Mikleušević described in detail how Hebrang was applying inappropriate pressure on HTV, and he even threatened that he would promptly collect on the VAT that HTV owes the state.

“Hebrang called me from the Information Centre and asked, without any supporting documents, that we broadcast a correction to the three minute piece at the end of Dnevnik. He wanted to dictate what we needed to say, however, though I do not contest his right to a reaction, I told him to write down his comments and send them in, for anything else would be applying pressure on the media. Furthermore, my colleague Zoran Šprajc contacted the other side while preparing the piece, but he was told by government spokesman Ratko Maček that the government could not comment on court proceedings. Hebrang did not want to accept even the possibility of offering his reaction in our late night news show Meridijan 16 or in Dnevnik the following day. Though he did not raise his voice, he told me several times that this would not end here, and that HTV in the end would have to pay its VAT debt. He also told me that the HTV editors were pulling Croatia into the Balkans and spreading lies, and that HTV’s position on this government had surpassed all boundaries, he asked if I knew who he was, said that we were unprofessional… He also criticized us for mentioning Speaker of the Parliament Vladimir Šeks only in the 21st minute of Dnevnik. He said that it was very important news that Šeks was received by the Irish queen. When I told him that Ireland does not have a queen, he said, ‘OK King’, to which I responded that they don’t have a king either. Then he told me that he was overly upset and that I was taking his words out of context and manipulating them,” stated Sanja Mikleušević.

Hebrang tried to defend his attack on HTV by stating that Sanja Mikleušević had been extremely rude to him. In addition to HSP president, Anto Djapic, virtually all the heads of the opposition stood on her side. They requested that Hebrang apologize to Sanja Mikleušević or resign. HNS president Vesna Pusić called upon the responsibility of the entire government in this case.

Sanja Mikleušević was even defended by the Croatian Journalists’ Association and the HTV administration, two institutions which to date have not reacted in similar situations.

Despite this, Sanader again decided to protect Hebrang. Nacional warned on 27 January 2004 that Hebrang’s difficult disposition could cost Sanader his government. In the meantime, Sanader has decided to tolerate his loyal party associate’s conduct, and Hebrang is publicly proud of how he is the lighting rod taking the blow of all the attacks against HDZ. Some of Sanader’s opponents claim that he intentionally gave Hebrang this role in an attempt to preventatively weaken a potential increase in Hebrang’s popularity within HDZ. However, of late, there are increasing numbers who believe that Sanader could significantly lose popularity for his decision to tolerate Hebrang’s behaviour.

With his conduct last week, Hebrang has brought Sanader into a defensive position for the first time. Considering that he again decided to protect Hebrang, Sanader should first personally explain why Hebrang’s staffing policy in the health care system was not a complete failure.