Montenegro progresses on list of European health systems

Podgorica, Montenegro (26 February 2019) -- According to the latest report of the European Health Consumer Index (ECHI), Montenegro is ranked 23rd out of 35 countries and advanced two positions compared to the previous year.

Minister of Health Kenan Hrapović said that, after the success of 2018, when Montenegro advanced the most compared to other European countries from the 34th to 25th position, the country had a very serious goal to attain - to maintain the achieved result and, to the extent possible, make a further progress.

"Now we have the reason to consider ourselves to be serious competitors with rich, modern health systems that have a long tradition of nurturing excellence in providing health services. We started preparing for this year's ranking after publishing last year's results. We did not sleep on laurels, nor were we boasting too much, but we realised that success can only be true if it is not a case study, a product of favourable circumstances. We carefully analysed each of the 48 indicators, evaluating the possibilities and potentials of the Montenegrin health system and focusing of the activities in the areas in which we achieved results in the desire to make them visible," Minister Hrapović noted.

Low infant mortality, availability of modern malignant disease treatment and the decision to introduce HPV vaccine for women in order to reduce the incidence of cervical cancer are the achievements that recommended Montenegro for the progress in this year's rankings.

Head of the Health Insurance Fund Sead Čirgić stated that patients, especially those with severe illnesses, were provided with modern therapy in Montenegro, and that, in terms of drugs, increased availability and better market availability were ensured.

The infant mortality rate, i.e., the number of children who dies up to 12 months of life per 1000 live births, as the most vulnerable indicator of health care in one system, was 21.9% in 1985. Director of the Clinical Centre of Montenegro Jevto Eraković said that we need to be proud of the results achieved in 2018 when it comes to mortality rate, and that the obligation of the Clinical Centre is to continue with good results at the Centre for Neonatology and all other organisational units.

"This sensitive indicator of health points to a better organisation of health care and general care for women and children, better general standards, better attitude towards women in pregnancy and children related to intrauterine life and after birth, the degree of vaccination, as well as cultural change," Eraković said.

Assistant Director of the Institute for Public Health Senad Begić expressed satisfaction with the fact that the progress on the ECHI list was partly due to significant advances in the field of public health, that is, in the field of cancer prevention, primarily due to the introduction of a vaccine against human papillomavirus.

"In this way, a significant step has been made in order to place Montenegro among the most developed countries offering the most modern and effective protection against cancer and diseases caused by human papillomavirus, which will be entirely at the expense of the state," Mr Begić stressed.

Four years ago, Montenegro was at the bottom of the ECHI list based on indicators, including the availability of health care for patients, outcomes of treatment, the extent and scope of services, and the prevention and use of pharmaceutical products.

The Montenegrin health system is better ranked than the ones of 12 European countries. Regarding the countries of the region, Serbia is ranked 18th, Croatia 24th, and Northern Macedonia 25th.

The first-ranked on the ECHI is Switzerland, which inherited the Netherlands, which for years had the best health system, and the last one on the list is Albania.