Sent from a state clinic to a private one? Call this number
If staff at a state health institution in Serbia tell you to pay for a scan or a check-up privately, the Health Ministry now takes reports by phone and email. You do not have to give your name.
Has a state doctor ever told you the scan will take months here, so better get it done privately? As of July 30 there is somewhere to report that. The Ministry of Health of Serbia published a phone number, 064/881-1546, and an email address, prijavite@zdravlje.gov.rs, for every case in which staff at a state health institution sent a patient to have an examination, a diagnostic procedure or any other health service done at a private clinic.
The statement went out at 11.11 a.m., through the Tanjug news agency. It is addressed to residents of Uzice and to people in every other town and municipality in Serbia, so the line is national rather than local.
Do you have to give your name?
No. The ministry says citizens are not required to submit personal data in order to file a report, which leaves the door open for anonymous complaints. Anyone who wants to back the report up can attach:
- additional information about the case
- documentation
- other evidence
Our advice is simple: keep the paperwork. A referral slip, a discharge letter and a receipt from a private practice fit in one drawer and are still there a year later.
On what happens to the reports, the ministry was explicit:
Every report will be carefully examined, with maximum respect for the privacy and confidentiality of citizens’ data, and if irregularities are established the Ministry of Health will, in line with the law, take all measures
That means a complaint no longer stops at the institution where it happened. It lands at the ministry instead.
Why Uzice
The subject came up during the parliamentary debate on the no-confidence motion against the Government of Serbia. Health Minister Zlatibor Loncar rejected claims that the Uzice Health Centre is in financial trouble and said the institution settles its obligations and pays salaries on time.
Loncar also announced more investment in healthcare in Uzice. He pointed to a project worth over 200 million euros, now in its final phase, which includes building a new Clinical Hospital Centre.
The reporting line came straight out of that debate. The order of events is worth keeping: a session in the National Assembly, a denial from the minister, then a public call for citizens to report what was being argued about in the chamber.
What changes for the patient
Very little now depends on the patient beyond a single call. The number is a mobile line, the address sits on the ministry’s own domain, and the condition for filing is a description of the case rather than a name.
In one day the ministry sent out two things: an assurance that the Uzice Health Centre is running normally, and an invitation to report referrals into private practice. How widespread the practice is will show up in the number of reports that reach 064/881-1546 and prijavite@zdravlje.gov.rs.
