Following frequent inquiries by journalists and media outlets, the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection confirms he received yesterday a communication from little Tijana Ognjanovic's parents in which they basically pleaded with the Commissioner to "release the Republic Health Insurance Fund from any legal duty to preserve data confidentiality, if indeed such duty exists" and announced he has sent a reply today. The Commissioner urged the Fun to provide assistance to diseased children whose parents made specific requests for such assistance as soon as possible.

The Commissioner believes it is not acceptable and, in this case, counter-productive to shift the focus in this case to the sphere of personal data protection, because the point of this issues should be sought.

This case, which has rightly garnered much public attention, should serve as a stern warning that our legal system is alarmingly inferior when it comes to raising and spending charity funds. It reminds us we should have answers to a whole range of issues that arise in connection with the public's right to know. For example, we should be aware of the circumstances, conditions and consequences of inviting the public to pay funds to a private account; of the consequences of such actions in terms of continued "confidentiality" of the private account; the consequences of inability to achieve the proclaimed purpose for any reason; the scope for "discretionary" use of the collected funds, both during and after the procedure etc.