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The Center for change management held the conference for the urgent needs and priorities for improvement of the services in the social policy and public health.

During the conference, CCM presented the results from the research of the public opinion for the social and health services.

The executive director of CCM, Neda Maleska – Sachmaroska, opened the conference in front of the Ministers for health and labour and social policy, Venko Filipche and Mila Carovska, the representatives from the institutions in the system of social and health protection, people from the non-governmental sector and many representatives from the media.

She briefly presented some of the key findings in the research for the health and social services:

“Unfortunately, many citizens feel that large part of these services must be modified, that they aren’t sufficient and that urgent measures are required. Another interesting information is that the citizens are most satisfied from the quality of the kindergartens, but least satisfied from the quality of the services for the elderly people” – said Maleska – Sachmaroska.

According to the citizens answers, the Macedonian social services system most urgently needs reforms in the social services for people with special needs, as well as regarding the amount of the money give as social assistance.

The Minister of Labour and Social policy, Mila Carovska said that the next month the debate about the new framework of the social protection will start, for the development of the services such as palliative care, personal assistance and also about the increasing of the level of the social transfers, which are currently very low.

“Those citizens which will receive increased amount until certain limit needed for better living will also be activated. This is the most important part of the system for social care so that there is no long term use of the system and these citizens don’t become passive and eliminated from the labour market” – added Carovska.

The Minister for Health, Venko Filipche, underlined the importance of this research, explaining that the patients are those that know best about the problems they face in the health system.

“We are dedicated to the reforms in every level of the health protection, from the primary, secondary and tertiary and certainly based on the best experience from the World and Europe, we focus on the prevention or the improvement of the urgent medical care, so that this service is more easily accessible by the citizens, even in their homes.” – indicated Filipche.

The importance of the advancement of the social and health services was also highlighted by Charles Garret, the ambassador of Great Britain, the country that financially supported the project “Monitoring Administrative Justice”

“The expertise of our medical personal is a reflection of our educational systems and the training. The cultural values that govern our society are reflected in the way that the system treats different people. Does everyone, regardless of background or disability, has equal treatment? If you want to see how the society treats its marginalized groups, take a look at the health or social protection in that society” – said Garret.

The results of the research of the public opinion for the social and health services were presented on the conference. The professor of the institute for social work and social policy, Svetlana Trbojevic , presented the results of the research for the situation in the social protection, while the journalist Mence Atanasova Toci, spoke about the most critical points, identified by the citizens in the area of the public health.

The recommendations for the overcoming of the registered problems and deficits in these sectors were also debate in the format of the working groups, with the participation of a number of people from the systems of social and healts care.