Family medicine in Republika Srpska is at a crossroads and a comprehensive analysis needs to be made, because younger colleagues, doctors of medicine, have a hard time deciding on this specialization, said Draško Kuprešak, president of the Association of Family Medicine Doctors of Republika Srpska.
Kuprešak, during a break in the seminar of doctors of family medicine of the Republic of Srpska under the slogan “Family medicine is the heart of the system”, in Zvornik told journalists that junior medical doctors have a hard time deciding to specialize in family medicine for several reasons.
He clarified that some of the reasons include the fact that specialization in family medicine is difficult, comprehensive and demanding, in practice it is economically insufficiently monitored in terms of salary and does not allow doctors to engage in private practice in their free time.
Kuprešak emphasized that there is a certain imbalance between the number of family medicine specialists and medical doctors who practice family medicine.
“There are 702 family medicine teams in the health system of Republika Srpska, of which about 60 percent are specialists in family medicine, and 40 percent are specialists from other medical branches,” said Kuprešak.
He pointed out that the Association proposed a quick solution to the Ministry of Health and the medical faculties of the Republic of Srpska, i.e. a program of additional education through which it would be ensured that medical doctors undergo training in order to receive an educational and professional basis for managing family medicine teams.
Kuprešak reminded that the law in this field also stipulates that 2028 is the limit year so that only specialists in family medicine can work in the healthcare system of the Republika Srpska.
The Secretary of the Association of Family Medicine Physicians of the Republic of Srpska, Suzana Savić, said that there are two presentations at the seminar that will certainly, in terms of education, contribute to improving the knowledge of both doctors specializing in family medicine and family medicine specialists.
She added that the topics she will talk about are “Current risk factors for mass non-communicable diseases” when talking about the harmfulness of tobacco products and another topic: “Mass non-communicable disease type-two diabetes”, which has pandemic proportions.
“As doctors at the primary level, we work on education, prevention and actually treatment of our patients,” Savićeva said, reports Srna.
Goran Birčaković, President of the Branch of Family Medicine Physicians of the Birač Region, says that in addition to experts from Republika Srpska, lecturers from Serbia, North Macedonia and Slovenia will be attending the seminar, giving this seminar an international character.
Emphasizing that family medicine is a specific field, Birčaković said that the seminar topics cover all fields except surgery.
With this seminar, the Association of Family Medicine Doctors of the Republic of Srpska marks the World Day of Family Medicine Doctors.
The organizer of the seminar, which is traditionally held in Zvornik, is the Association of Family Medicine Doctors of the Republic of Srpska, with a focus on the Birač Region Branch.