Drago Prgomet

Professor Drago Prgomet, PhD is a Croatian physician, university professor and politician serving as a head of Department of Ear, Nose and Throat and Head and Neck Surgery at the University Hospital Centre Zagreb,^[1] and head of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology with Audiology and Phoniatry of the Zagreb School of Medicine.^[2]

Prgomet was born on May 23, 1965 in small village Žeravac near Derventa in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He has 6 brothers and sisters. His father died when he was six years old. Although his mother was a single mother, family lived very well. He and his brothers and sisters were earning extra money by working during the summer time. Almost all of them graduated from the University.^[2][3]

Prgomet graduated medicine from the University of Banja Luka in 1990, after which he continued his postgraduate studies at the University of Zagreb.^[4] In addition to dozens of professional and scientific works in the field of medicine, he published a book of stories from the Croatian War of Independence,in which he actively participated, "Collector of shrapnel" (Sakupljač gelera).^[5]

Prgomet entered politics in 1996 as a member of the conservative Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ). He was elected to the Croatian Parliament from the HDZ list in year 2003. At the 15th HDZ General Assembly that was held on 25 May 2012 he was elected Vice President of the Party.^[6] Prgomet presented his candidacy for the position of the Vice president together with Milan Kujundžić, whom he supported as a candidate for party president, that ran against Tomislav Karamarko.^[7]

After the 15th General Assembly Prgomet and newly elected party president Karamarko haven't managed to establish good relationship, haven't even spoken at all, which culminated on February 27, 2015 in Progmet's resignation from the position of HDZ Vice President as well as from the party membership.^[8]

In September 2015 he joined the Bridge of Independent Lists. He was elected to the Croatian Parliament from the Bridge of Independent Lists list on 2015 parliamentary elections with more than 20.000 preferential votes.^[9] On 11 November 2015 he was expelled from the party for holding private talks with Prime Minister Zoran Milanović without the knowledge of other members of the party's leadership.^[10] On 22 November 2015 he announced the formation of a new political party called Croatian Dialogue Initiative (Hrvatska inicijativa za dijalog, abbreviated as HRID, the Croatian word for islet).^[11]

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