Ethnic trading in healthcare: Chief Inspector for Medicines retires, HDZ now wants the position?

By: A. Čorbo-Zećo

Indira Fazlagić, long-time Chief Inspector for Medicines at the Agency for Medicines and Medical Devices of Bosnia and Herzegovina, is soon retiring. Her position, technically – professional, operational, and extremely important for public health in the country, is now, according to what is heard from political circles, increasingly viewed as a “matter of agreement” rather than expertise. More precisely, as a political opportunity for new personnel positioning by HDZ BiH.

According to unofficial information, HDZ is already showing clear interest in taking over this function, even though the Agency's director is already from the Serb people.

This would openly violate the principle of internal balance in state-level institutions, not only in terms of ethnic balance but also the principle of functional impartiality.

The most interesting aspect of this whole story is to observe how the Troika, the political bloc that emerged on the wave of fighting corruption, clientelism, and national division in institutions, will react. And so far, they have shown the opposite in their work.

Will the Troika, within the coalition partnership with HDZ and SNSD, once again “turn a blind eye” and allow another position of professional interest to be turned into an ethnic-party reward?

The Agency for Medicines is not a political headquarters; it is a regulatory body that should protect citizens' health, control the market of medicines and medical devices, and prevent abuses in the pharmaceutical sector. If this function also becomes a matter of ethnic agreement, citizens will rightly ask if health in BiH is for sale?

At a time when the country is facing problems in public health, drug shortages, and chronic inefficiencies in market regulation, the selection of a new Chief Inspector must not be the result of political bargaining. If the Troika agrees to another personnel concession to HDZ, they will become responsible for continuing the process in which expertise and legality remain mere decorations on paper.

It is time to say enough. If this government truly wants change, it cannot be achieved by compromising institutions for the sake of coalition peace.