In the National Assembly Building, WPN had a meeting with the representatives of the Trade Union of Nurses and Paramedics of Serbia. The topic of the meeting were frequent physical assaults against medical professionals in healthcare institutions.
The representatives of the Trade Union of Nurses and Paramedics of Serbia said that the lack safety of medical professionals in Serbia was not a new problem. It was an issue with which they had been dealing for a long time. They believed that prevention of physical assault was the priority in solving this problem. They said that they addressed the Ministry of Health with the proposal to introduce panic buttons into certain healthcare institutions, so that the staff could raise alarm more easily in case of assault. They also proposed to introduce security measures with metal detectors, which would make them feel safer in their workplace.
The coordinator Ljiljana Nestorović suggested the representatives of the Trade Union of Nurses and Paramedics of Serbia to collect all the information they could, in order to define a plan of action and ask for support from the European Union and NGOs. “You have an army of 63,000 people, out of whom 95% are women. You have to apply consistent pressure on the Government so that they are aware of the problems you’re facing,” said Ms. Nestorović. She also added that the Trade Union should address the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality Brankica Janković, and the Head of the Gender Equality Coordination Body Zorana Mihajlović.
At the end of the meeting, Ljiljana Nestorović promised that, as the Coordinator of WPN, she would try to help the implementation of the plan to increase protection and safety in the healthcare system. She would do so in cooperation with other working bodies of the National Assembly, in particular with the Committee for Health and Family.
Meeting between Women’s Parliamentary Network and the Trade Union of Nurses and Paramedics of Serbia
