Lawmaker accuses company of using lawsuits to silence her over healthcare spending

Croatian lawmaker Ivana Kekin has accused the private company Medikol of using lawsuits to silence her public inquiries into the country's healthcare system. Kekin, a representative for the Možemo party, stated that Medikol has filed seven Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP) against her, funded by money from Croatian citizens via the Health Insurance Fund (HZZO).

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Seven SLAPP lawsuits that they are trying to silence me with are financed by Medikol with the money of Croatian citizens.

Kekin asserts that these lawsuits are not about protecting Medikol's reputation but are intended to intimidate her for questioning the state's reliance on the company. She highlighted that Medikol receives over half its revenue from HZZO for PET/CT services, a crucial oncological examination that Croatia has not developed public capacity for over two decades. This has led to the state paying Medikol tens of millions of euros.

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The very allegations for which Medikol is suing Ivana Kekin show that it is not an attempt to protect their reputation, but an attempt to silence her because of the questions she publicly asked.

One lawsuit, Kekin explained, targets her for questioning the government's dealings with Medikol, particularly regarding contracts that have not been made public. She noted that a former director of HZZO claimed to have rejected hospital requests for PET/CT devices based on a contract he never saw, a document that a subsequent investigation found never existed.

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Why the state has not developed its own public capacities for this, one of the key oncological examinations, for twenty years, but pays Medikol tens of millions of euros, again with the money of Croatian citizens.

Another lawsuit concerns Medikol's PET/CT scanner at KBC Split, which has been in place for nearly 20 years without the hospital acquiring its own essential equipment for cancer diagnostics. Kekin drew parallels between Medikol's alleged use of SLAPP suits and the tactics of the ruling HDZ party, accusing both of attempting to suppress public scrutiny through legal and political means. She vowed not to back down despite the pressure.

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The goal of such long-term lawsuits is for people to give up under pressure, to stop asking questions to the powerful in healthcare, to succumb to self-censorship under financial and other burdens. But I will not give up.