Government of Sarajevo Canton approves 49 new jobs in the health sector, more than half non-medical staff

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - Prime Minister of Sarajevo Canton Edin Forto and Minister of Health of Sarajevo Canton Haris Vranić announced today that at today's session the Government of Sarajevo Canton will approve the employment of 49 people in the health sector of Sarajevo Canton. More than half are non-medical staff, such as economists, lawyers, certified accountants, cleaners, drivers..., and they will receive permanent positions.

Explaining the hiring process, Prime Minister Forto said at a press conference that it will be done in accordance with the moratorium, based on which the Government has been transparently filling positions for which permanent contracts are foreseen for several years.

“Let me remind you, the Government approves positions with permanent contracts, while ministers in their departments, without the Government, can only offer fixed-term contracts,” explained Prime Minister Forto.

As he said, the Government constantly receives requests from institutions for staff engagement and is committed to renewing professional staff, while being much stricter when it comes to administration.

“However, as years go by, a number of positions have accumulated where it was literally no longer possible to manage without staff who had died, retired, or voluntarily left their jobs. Because of this, we decided to approve the filling of a certain number of administrative positions in institutions such as the Psychiatric Hospital, the Institute for Health Protection of MUP Employees, the Health Center, the Institute for Health Protection of UNSA Students, Apoteke Sarajevo, and the Health Insurance Institute,” stated Prime Minister Forto. 

He explained that 21 positions that the Government will approve today are medical staff, including five pulmonology specialists, three pediatric specialists, 12 doctors of medicine, one specialist doctor in medical biochemistry, and one medical technician. They will mostly be employed at the Health Center of Sarajevo Canton. He emphasized that all positions are financed by the Health Insurance Institute of Sarajevo Canton, which had already approved the hirings.

Prime Minister Forto explained that these are not new hirings, but rather vacant positions that were previously approved.

“We additionally control such positions. Some we never approve, and that is then a saving for the Health Insurance Institute of Sarajevo Canton and its insurees, so those funds can be redirected to healthcare services,” stated Prime Minister Forto.

Minister Vranić emphasized that the Ministry he leads and the Government of Sarajevo Canton are primarily committed to hiring young doctors, but that work cannot be done without those positions requiring specialist or subspecialist services, i.e., without non-medical staff.

He cited the example of the Health Center of Sarajevo Canton, which covers all municipalities in the Canton, and currently has no drivers.   

“Months-long requests have accumulated,” said Minister Vranić.

He reminded that during the third wave of the coronavirus pandemic, the health system was overstretched, and the Government of Sarajevo Canton responded by hiring doctors and nurses for shorter periods.

“Over time, it turned out that this did not yield the best results, and we must fill the positions that are vacant. These are positions for which public health institutions have funds that are in their accounts,” said Minister Vranić.

He announced that the Government of Sarajevo Canton will continue to control new employment requests through management structures and give approvals in line with financial capabilities.