Who is hindering employment at the Agency for Medicines: The increasingly poor financial status of employees

(Patria) - The Ministry of Finance and Treasury of BiH gave consent for the hiring of six vacant positions at the Agency for Medicines and Medical Devices back on August 11, 2020, so the Trade Union of this Agency expects and asks the Council of Ministers, led by Zoran Tegeltija, to include this item on the agenda as soon as possible.

"There are no legal or other discrepancies to fill the positions with professional people, pharmacists who are essential for us to perform tasks in analyzing the quality of medicines. I also ask, I beg the Professional Council of the Agency for Medicines and Medical Devices and the management of the Agency to actively engage in filling the remaining unfilled positions in the Agency, all for the better and higher quality work and functioning of the Agency, which is at the service of preserving and improving the health of patients throughout the territory of BiH," states Ramo Rustemović, president of the Trade Union.

He added that the financial status of employees is still poor, humiliating.

"I do not see any initiative in terms of improvement, and I especially do not know or am not informed that anyone from the management structures of the Agency is currently dealing with this issue, whether discussions have been held with the Ministry of Civil Affairs or a request has been sent.

Here is an opportunity for the Professional Council of the Agency to show and justify its role in all of this. Why is the Law on Medicines and Medical Devices not being amended, through which the status of the Agency and employees would be resolved most quickly. The Agency for Medicines should not be a hostage to politics and should not be treated as the most ordinary bureaucratic institution.

We generate financial resources, we fill the budget, the regulatory bodies are located next to the Agency for Medicines, they decide on the hiring, training, and financial status of employees themselves. Such a poor financial status of professional people directly leads us to the problem that there will be no interested candidates in the recruitment competitions.

Now we are experiencing that we hire young people, train them, educate them well, they duly thank us and find employment in European laboratories because we are members of the EDQM Network of Official Medicines Control Laboratories of the Council of Europe (OMCL), holders of ISO/IEC 17025," notes Rustemović.