"If it is a question of PR, then Ostojic is certainly the best minister, but if it is a question of the safety and functioning of the health system, then he is a natural disaster for the health system and the worst health minister Croatia has ever had," Darko Milinovic, HDZ member of Parliament and previous health minister, told a press conference in Zagreb.

Milinovic dismissed as disinformation Ostojic's claim that the previous, HDZ-led government had left the health system in debt, saying that the HDZ government had reduced the debt by 2 billion kuna, from 2.1 billion kuna in 2008 to 154 million kuna at the end of its term in office in late 2011.

Milinovic said that the health system lacked between 150 million and 170 million kuna monthly, and criticised his successor for reneging on his election promise that the health budget would be at least the same as it was for 2011, adding that it was smaller by 3.5 billion kuna -- one billion for the National Health Insurance Institute (HZZO) and 2.5 billion through contributions.

Milinovic criticised Ostojic for not cancelling the 3% pension contribution and for not reducing hospital waiting lists. He also mentioned the problem of hospitals being left without medicines in the middle of the tourist season.

"Unless the present trends change, the health system faces a collapse by the end of the year," Milinovic concluded.

The head of the party's Health Committee, Ante Corusic, said: "We think the HDZ can do better. With the new president and leadership, it has better personnel to ensure the reform of the Croatian health system."

When asked if it was not bizarre that the HDZ, after being in power for eight years and after losing elections, was now proposing "life-saving solutions" for September, Corusic said that this was "a new HDZ acting on a new platform", and that its project would "sweep away" the health program of the SDP-led ruling coalition.