Since the start of the collecting of signatures for the amendment to the Criminal Code to provide more security for doctors and healthcare professionals, problems have been continuously occurring on the e-Government web portal. Signatories have continuously encountered obstacles when trying to sign the document, and the e-Government site has repeatedly failed to function. It seems as if someone deliberately wants to prevent the collection of enough signatures. The Ministry of Digital Transformation, led by Emilija Stojmenova Duh, claims that doctors are “misleading” with their claims – but if that were true, why would the Ministry feel the need to hire a foreign PR company to lead the fight against the doctors?
The Junior Doctors (Mladi zdravniki) believe that the serious and constant disruptions at the e-Government website and the simultaneous difficulty of access to the administrative units due to the strike seriously undermines the democratic process of popular initiative, which is guaranteed by the Referendums and Popular Initiatives Act. If the Minister for Digital Transformation is not able to solve the problems that are in her domain, the Junior Doctors call on her to resign.
“To be honest, with the rise in violent incidents in the healthcare sector, it should be up to politics to make this change to the Criminal Code. Since they have not done so, two female doctors have initiated this by means of a citizens’ initiative to change the law.” They need to collect 5000 signatures for the bill to be considered in the National Assembly, but it turns out that there have been numerous errors on the e-Government website, which means that the submission of the signature has often not been possible. During the signature collection process, strange things have been happening (for example, the number of collected signatures dropped several times, the application was not available before the deadline had passed), which should have been easily corrected by the professional team that manages the official state website.
Something must be wrong if so many people can’t file their signature!
Amid dozens and dozens of messages from users of the social network X that they were having problems submitting their application, and constant warnings on the e-Government website that mistakes might have been made when submitting an application, the Minister accused doctors of “misleading” with their claims. “But even if these were all mistakes, there is clearly something very wrong if 28 percent of citizens fail to submit their application,” the Junior Doctors pointed out. They have also called on Minister Stojmenova to resign if she is unable to solve the problem, which – by the way – falls squarely within her remit.
“The Minister is wasting our money on travel, while they are unable to fix one faulty website, or worse – they are blocking it on purpose,” said a source from the Young Doctors group, who wishes to remain anonymous. Not only that, but the Minister has even hired a foreign PR service to fight the doctors, which is even more worrying, especially since it seems that the mainstream media, along with the government, is also actively carrying out the pogrom against doctors.
The Minister has even hired a foreign PR service to fight against doctors
The Junior Doctors are extremely disappointed by the government’s behaviour. When asked what the mood among doctors is in the face of the government’s ignorance, a source told us: “Very bad. You study for so many years, you have such a demanding profession, you work 24/24, and then because you are extra diligent and willing to work even in the afternoon (and you pay fair taxes for that!), you are then called an amphibian and become the target of a witch-hunt. Doctors are leaving the public healthcare sector for the private one, because why would you work in such poor conditions after so many years of studying, while there is also a media war going on against the medical profession – the Minister has even hired an external PR service to fight against doctors, which we Junior Doctors have discovered.”
We are concerned about the direction in which Slovenia is headed
“The best professionals are likely to leave such a system – why persist in it? And the result will be that there will be no more people to treat the most complex conditions,” our source added. In one month, they have thus collected well over half of the 5,000 signatures needed. “The process is this slow because the e-Government portal often doesn’t work, many people don’t have digital certificates, and administrative units are on strike. However, we still have three weeks to go,” they report. But you can find out how to submit your signature here: https://mladizdravniki.si/prosimo-poskusite-kasneje/.
Tanja Brkić
