Večernji list: Even 13.698 years or around five million days on sick-leave workers in the FBiH have spent in only one year! It is hard to come up with the exact figure of “sick-leave days” in this year, because cantonal bureaus for health insurance and re-insurance make this evidence differently, while the Federal bureau for insurance and re-insurance still counts the data for 2008. Some of them count days, some hours, some count those in money – in millions KM, which are being paid to workers on sick-leave.
According to data of seven cantons, ‘the most sick’ is the Zeničko-dobojski canton. Its workers have in only one year had the unbelievable million and 178.699 days, or 3.229 years paid from the ZZO budget of this canton. Each worker has spent 32.21 days on sick-leave on average.
– The most sick-leaves were in mining – 4.518 (102.439 days off), in leather-textile industry 3.939 sick-leaves with 134.308 days, in wood industry 2.825 cases with 98.980 days – we have been told in the ZZO of Zeničko-dobojski canton.
In Hercegovačko-neretvanski canton, last year they have spent 1.173.572 KM on sick-leave, and the most sick they were in October. Introduction of family medicine has created problems for them, they have said, and newly selected doctors did not know if their patients had pain. Insurers have delivered to them a list of findings from private doctors, but they have not been acquainted with the nature of work their patients do.
– The ZZO of Hercegovačko-neretvanski canton almost constantly does a detailed control of sick-leave and we cannot say that we have an obvious problem of high rate of sick-leave, which burdens the economy of this canton. There are also those, who despite of the fact that they have a cancer, do not want to sit at home because it destroys them psychologically, as they say – they actually want to work, but not to go on sick-leave. This has especially been noticed in private sector – has been said by spokesperson of ZZO of this canton, Dalibor Ravić.
The Zapadnohercegovački canton is one of the healthiest, at least by the number of going on sick-leave. In 2008, its workers have spent only 5.289 days on sick-leave.
– In the frame of the introduction of new system of improving the quality, we have come to the resolutions, whose numbers of days on sick-leave have been reduced. The controller inside that bureau checks all sick-leaves, which last up to 90 days, and all sick-leaves above 90 days are being deliberated by the representations, which decide on extending the sick-leave – has been said to us by spokesperson of ZZO of the Zapadnohercegovački canton, Ivana Bošnjak.
The Tuzlanski canton is one of ‘the most sick’ in the FBiH. In 2008, its workers have spent 1.1 million days on sick-leave, and the biggest part of this figure goes to Tuzla.
– There is no data on how badly this reflects on society, and for sick-leaves longer than 42 days, around 8 million KM or 4% of the total annual revenue of this bureau gets refunded per year. Miners, electricians, chemists and construction workers are the ones, who go on sick-leave the most, but it depends on structure of productivity and other labors of each municipality – we have been told in Tuzlanski canton.
Namely, employer pays the sick-leave up to 42 days, but the ZZO longer than 42 days.
In Posavski canton, as well as in the Zapadnohercegovački canton, workers also tend to go on sick-leave. It is usually about a cancer and cardio-vascular diseases with a long treatment. However, that expenditure of the ZZO of Posavski canton reaches around 100.000 KM per year.
– Employees of the Elektra and TKC in Posavina take a leading lot of sick-leaves, even though it is mostly about the individual cases – has been claimed in bureau. The biggest complaint has been sent towards eight months, by which such kinds of sick-leaves accumulate because of waiting.
Data of the ZZO of HB canton says that last year 54 insured persons have been on sick-leave for 8.809 days. In the first category, the total number of days spent on sick-leave (disease) was 7.584. That sick-leave has been used by 41 insured persons, around 185 days on average, and in 250 paid remunerations 103.029.75 KM has been spent. When speaking of the injuries outside the work, remunerations have been paid for three persons and 540 ‘sick-leave days’, 19 remunerations have been paid – 8.229.27 KM, and for a category of ‘maternity leave’ for 28 paid remunerations, 13.638 KM has been spent. The ZZO of the Unsko-sanski canton pays more than 1.6 million KM for sick-leaves, and only last year 1.685.748 KM. 102.779 days on sick-leaves per 14 months have been registered, and in exceptional cases up to 24 months. Doc. Dr. Suad Hamzabegović, director of the ZZO of the Unsko-sanski canton, says that the sick-leaves are an evidenced problem, which shows up from year to year, with a tendency of increasing the number of workers, who want to use it.
– The essential problem lays in the fact that the doctors sometimes send workers on sick-leaves without justification, which represents a huge burden how for the institute, so for those economic subjects, which by the fact that workers work, get damaged already. We tend to fight against unjustified sick-leaves. We are ready to pay for justified sick-leaves and take responsibility for all expenditures – has been said by Doc. Dr. Suad Hamzabegović, director of the ZZO of the Unsko-sanski canton.
Hamzabegović adds that the annual reduction of number of sick-leaves is possible only in a manner of strengthened controls of institute, which will engage a representation of doctors, who will be doing an insight in health booklets of doctors, who are sending the workers on sick-leave, as well as the institutions in which they work. All this would be done with a goal to see if those sick-leaves are justified, or no, if it is about disease, which requires absence from work, after which the worker will be ready to work again, or it is just a goal to assist them in getting the sick-leave out of some other, non-medical reasons.
The data from the Srednjobosanski, Bosanskopodrinjski and the canton Sarajevo, we have not received, but by considering the number of citizens they have, in this part of the FBiH 1.5 million days have been minimally spent on sick-leave.