FIDES said the health minister invited them to resume talks on Monday morning and added that it had already formed a negotiating team in case the talks continued at the weekend.

Earlier today, FIDES sent the government its set of proposals for negotiations, which Minister Milojka Kolar Celarc said would be studied with a view to resume talks as soon as possible.

While no details of the proposal are available, the trade union said progress in talks by Monday could lead to a one-month suspension of the strike, or else the strike would be escalated on Tuesday.

"Failure to reach suitable goals and shifts to freeze the strike for a month will lead to the escalation of the strike on Tuesday," FIDES boss Konrad Kuštrin stressed today on the sidelines of a meeting of the strike committee.

Responding to the trade union's proposal, the minister said she believed it was in the interest of all to suspend the strike as soon as possible, reiterating the strike was legitimate, but unnecessary.

She urged FIDES not to set ultimatums, but rather try to come to a consensus within the framework of available funds and human resources.

Doctors are currently strictly observing the 40-hour work week, which has led to a number of surgery cancellations and the rescheduling of appointments.

If the strike is upgraded, doctors will perform only what they are obliged to by law when on strike: processing emergency cases, pregnant women, children, the elderly and operating on cancer patients.

Kuštrin told the press the strike was actually close to escalating by virtue of most doctors having already performed their 40-hour weekly duty. "In certain hospitals, entire departments could close next week."

He added that "we have come to a bitter conclusion that our healthcare system is very weak, which has been exposed in a mere two to three days".

The trade union held talks with the government on Thursday and was offered concessions on pay and workload standards, but it said the proposals were not good enough to end the strike.

Kuštrin stressed that the two sides were still on the opposite sides with regards to the most important demands, workload standards and changes to the pay system.

The government offered some concessions regarding the doctors' demand to progress higher on the public sector pay scale than they currently can.

This means they would be able to climb over the 57th bracket. Kuštrin could not say how many doctors would be eligible, expectedly less than 10%.

The FIDES boss did not say how many doctors were on strike, stressing they were not counting them.

However, there are around 6,000 doctors working in the public health system, and according to Kuštrin, "the majority" are on strike.