Health Minister Vili Beroš Expects Hospitals To Provide Patients With Medical Services
ZAGREB, 4 May, 2021 - Health Minister Vili Beroš on Tuesday said that the solution to acute problem of the shortage of radiologists in two hospitals in Zagreb was within the responsibility of those hospitals and that he expects those institutions to provide patients with appropriate and immediate health services.
"The solution to the acute problem of the shortage of radiologists at the Sisters of Mercy hospital and the clinic for treating cancers, which is part of that health institution, is up to the administration at the hospital and I expect them to provide all the patients with the appropriate medical services, and in particular oncology patients and those with grave diseases," said Beroš.
He underscored that patients have to be above organisational problems of an institution.
Beroš underscored that patients must not be left without services because of organisational problems or human relationships.
"That's my clear message to directors and all their associates who are responsible for managing those processes in hospitals. Problems have to be resolved," said Minister Beroš.
He added that Croatia has an increasing number of younger radiologists with experience in working in clinical centres and health institutions that could be the core of creating a system based on the example of developed countries with advanced health systems.
"Creating an efficient system of radiology services at the country level that could provide efficient, quality and financially rational services to a larger number of health institutions that are faced with a shortage of staff such as radiologists, which surfaced in the Sisters of Mercy hospital, are an inevitable step towards resolving this and similar problems," he underscored.
He underscored that as Minister of Health he has already "launched certain activities to provide organised radiology services based on the experiences of other countries that have proved to be efficient and economically justified and are appropriate to our needs and capacities.
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French Institute in Croatia Launches Hospitality Programme
ZAGREB, 4 May, 2021 - The French Institute in Croatia has on the occasion of its 100th anniversary launched a Hospitality programme which in cooperation with various institutions enables close public contact with artists.
The programme is adapted to Croatia's specific context, featuring the consequences of the health crisis and earthquakes that hit Zagreb and Sisak and Petrinja in central Croatia and is aimed at developing a programme of valorisation of Croatian artists in the premises of the French Institute where they can present their works and establish contact with a new audience.
The planned encounters are aimed at enabling a privileged experience and relationship with artists and their works, something that has been absent during this period of restricted encounters.
The institute has called on artists to participate in the programme, saying that they will be issued with a 'carte blanche' to take over the institute's premises for specific encounters with the public and to present their works.
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Opposition Parties File Motion of No Confidence in Health Minister Vili Beroš
ZAGREB, 4 May, 2021 - Parliamentary opposition parties have filed a joint motion for a vote of no confidence in Health Minister Vili Beroš over the accumulated problems in the healthcare sector and scandals related to the minister, Social Democratic Party (SDP) leader Peđa Grbin said on Tuesday.
"The reasons for this move are clear to all citizens - the accumulated debts in the healthcare system resulted in the suspension of deliveries of medicines to hospitals at the height of the pandemic. There are also huge problems with the vaccination system, and we have learned of favourable treatment in the development of the cijepise.hr vaccination registration system," Grbin said.
"The development of this non-functioning system was awarded to people connected with Minister Beroš. There are also suspicious public procurement procedures at the Health Ministry such as one where IT services were awarded to a florist and tenders were fixed for former HDZ health ministers Andrija Hebrang and Neven Ljubičić, which have been cancelled but only after media started writing about them," he added.
"The Health Ministry is simply not functioning. There are no reforms, and the extent to which this affects people's lives could best be seen in a recent case at the Clinic for Tumors where citizens suffering from malignant diseases could not receive adequate care," Grbin said, naming Beroš as the person most responsible for this.
"We want Beroš to go because right now he has done nothing positive for the healthcare system, and all the negative things he has done pose a direct threat to people's health and lives," the SDP leader said. "His departure, however, will not be enough and we will all have to come to grips with the accumulated problems together."
Grbin said that a discussion on Beroš must be held within 30 days, and whether it will be held before or after the 16 May local elections "depends on Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković."
The initiative was signed by all opposition groups in parliament except the Croatian Sovereignists, but they have announced that they will vote in favour Beroš's resignation, Grbin said.
MOST's Nikola Grmoja said that his party had been warning for a long time about the problems faced by the healthcare system, including huge debts to drug wholesalers and long waiting lists.
"Beroš, of course, is not the only one to blame, the whole government is responsible. With our signatures we also want to encourage a reform of the healthcare system. All of us in the opposition agree that changes are necessary and should be launched urgently," Grmoja noted.
Sandra Benčić of the green-left We Can! platform said that they supported all the reasons for a no-confidence vote in Beroš, but stressed that the responsibility for the crisis in the healthcare system and the poor management of the coronavirus pandemic mostly lay with Prime Minister Andrej Plenković.
"None of the ministers, and certainly not Minister Beroš, makes decisions on their own. They were not chosen as competent persons in their departments but were chosen based on their loyalty to the prime minister who ultimately makes all decisions. The prime minister cannot be exonerated by his purported unawareness of the scandals for which we seek Beroš's resignation. That's why we ask whether the country can be run by a prime minister who does not know or who does not get key information," Benčić said.
Homeland Movement MP Stjepo Bartulica said that the Croatian healthcare system was too politicised. "There are countless problems and the possible resignation of Minister Beroš will not change things much. We have insisted from the start that the healthcare system should be governed by market principles because now we don't see any mechanisms that will bring about change to the system as this government resists structural reforms," he said.
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Zagreb Museum of Contemporary Art Exhibition on Former Zagreb Mayor Većeslav Holjevac
April 4, 2021- Following the 50th anniversary of the death of Većeslav Holjevac, the Zagreb Museum of Contemporary Art exhibition on the former and historically significant mayor is an excellent opportunity to meet the guy who shaped Zagreb in the previous century.
Apart from the horror of the pandemic and earthquakes, 2020 was the 50th anniversary of the death of Većeslav Holjevac – who is considered to be one of the greatest mayors in Zagreb's history.
As ZG Portal reports, last month an exhibition dedicated to Holjevac started in the gallery of the Museum of Contemporary art, and you can view it until May 20.
The Zagreb of Većeslav Holjevac 1952 to 1963 – Urbanist Vision And Architectural Reach is an exhibition that takes a look at the eleven-year mandate of this significant mayor who transformed Zagreb in the post World War 2 era. Fifty themes and representative examples of urban and architectural achievements which were built, projected, or planned in Holjevac's term. This included three key Strategic urbanistic documents which played a key role in the development of Zagreb and were decided at that time.
The authors of the exhibition are architect Ivan Mlinar which conducted Urbanistic research on Zagreb in the time of Holjevac, and historian Hrvoje Klasić who was in charge of biographical research.
The exhibits were donated by the Museum of Contemporary Arts, Zagreb City Museum, Architecture Museum of Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Faculty of Architecture on Zagreb University, Jadran Film, and Zagreb film studio.
The 35th Zagreb mayor and the total number of mayors in Zagreb throughout its history includes 52 names. Today, Većeslav Holjevac has his own avenue at the entrance to Most Slobode (Liberty bridge), which allows citizens to cross the Sava river and enter Novi Zagreb (New Zagreb), and the statue of Holjevac overlooks the area of Zagreb he built in what is commonly known as „Jump Over Sava“.
Apart from being mayor, Holjevac took various different roles in the former Republic of Yugoslavia. Known as a bold person with vision, competence, and bravery, he made Zagreb one of the most developed cities in Yugoslavia, and despite having various rivals, he enjoyed the support of Yugoslavian president Marshall Josip Broz Tito, which allowed him to make his projects a reality.
Learn more about Zagreb on our TC page.
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Croatia Logs 1,396 New Coronavirus Cases, 46 Deaths
ZAGREB, 4 May, 2021 - In the past 24 hours, 1,396 new cases of coronavirus have been detected in Croatia while 46 people have died as a consequence, the national COVID response team reported on Tuesday.
There are a total of 11,033 active cases in the country, including 2,169 hospitalised patients, 259 of whom are on ventilators.
Since 25 February 2020, when the first case was confirmed in Croatia, there have been 336,918 registered cases of the novel coronavirus, 7,264 people have died as a consequence and 318,621 have recovered, including 1,695 in the past 24 hours.
There are currently 27,733 people in self-isolation.
A total of 1,836,108 people have been tested for the virus to date, with 9,040 tests conducted in the past 24 hours.
As of 3 May, a total of 921,527 doses of vaccines have been administered and 716,861 people have been inoculated. Of that number 509,580 have received one dose and 204,666 have received both. For 2,615 people there is no data as to how many shots they have received.
For more about COVID-19 in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.
Istrian Tourism Starts Off on Right Foot with 11,100 Arrivals During First May Weekend
May 4, 2021 - The first weekend of May saw 11,100 tourists arrive on the Croatian peninsula and 47,000 overnight stays, giving hope to Istrian tourism ahead of the season.
Despite the fact that this year continues to drag the same obstacles as the previous one in terms of the pandemic and its negative effect on the tourism sector, the ongoing vaccination and the recent decrease in infections seem to show that positive changes are about to appear soon not only for Istrian tourism.
The numbers of tourists who visited Istria to spend the first days of May, among which are Slovenian and German citizens, seem to be satisfactory for the tourism board and Istrian tourism.
According to tportal.hr, Slovenian and Croatian citizens are in the lead among the visitors, followed by citizens of Serbia and Germany, the director of the Istrian County Tourist Board Denis Ivošević told Glas Istre, commenting on the tourist results achieved in Istria over the past weekend, which saved May Day tourist figures.
Namely, as far as the structure of guests is concerned, out of a total of 47,500, Slovenians are expected to lead, with 12,600 arriving in Istria. They are followed by domestic guests, 10,000 of them, while there were almost equally 6,500 Serbs and Germans.
‘‘Approximately one-third of all May Day tourists stayed in hotels this weekend, another third of guests opted for camping, while the remaining third stayed in private accommodation, including non-commercial (homeowners or holiday homeowners)’’, continues Ivošević and adds that the most visited Istrian destinations were, as expected, Rovinj and Poreč.
‘‘These figures were expected, we knew that we would not be able to achieve greater tourist arrivals since at this time we cannot count on our most important markets, namely Germany, Austria, and Italy. In any case, taking into account that Slovenes have finally started coming to us and that Serbs have coincided with Easter with the May Day holiday, we can be satisfied’’, Ivošević claims, noting that we still cannot use the potential of a favorable epidemiological situation in Istria.
The Croatian National Tourist Board reports that, according to the eVisitor system, which shows tourist traffic realized in commercial and non-commercial facilities and nautical charter (eCrew system), in Croatia during the first weekend in May, ie from Friday, April 30 to Monday, May 3; there were 41,400 arrivals and more than 157,000 overnight stays. Out of that, foreign tourists made almost 23,000 arrivals and 112,000 overnight stays.
Follow the latest on flights to Croatia HERE and the latest travel updates and COVID-19 news from Croatia HERE.
For more information and travel tips on the Istrian region, be sure to visit our newly launched Total Croatia portal.
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Croatia to Ask For EU Funding For New Electronic Toll Collection System - Večernji List Newspaper
ZAGREB, 4 May, 2021 - Although planned for the beginning of this year, the new electronic toll collection system in Croatia will be put into operation as late as the end of 2025, the Večernji List newspaper wrote on Tuesday.
Once installed on the motorways managed by the HAC and Bina Istra companies, the toll will be charged automatically by an upgraded version of the electronic toll collection and number plate recognition system without vehicles having to stop at a toll booth.
To get most of the money needed for the new system, the government has decided to apply for EU funding, including this project in the national recovery and resilience programme 2021-2026. The project has been presented as being part of digitalisation and development of a competitive, sustainable and efficient transport and traffic system.
The value of the project is estimated at HRK 730 million (€96.9m), or HRK 912.6 million (€121.13m) including VAT.
Until the new system is put in place, HAC plans to switch to a cashless-only payment service at 18 of its 76 toll booths where the toll will be charged by the existing electronic toll system or paid by bank cards. These toll points normally see very little traffic, especially in wintertime, the newspaper said.
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10% of Mayoral Candidates Running Unopposed in May 16 Local Elections
ZAGREB, 4 May, 2021 - About 10% of the total of 555 towns and municipalities in Croatia already know who their mayors will be over the next four years because they are sole candidates running in the 16 May local elections.
The Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) can already claim victory in four towns and 44 municipalities, as shown by the data on mayoral nominations available on the Electoral Commission's website.
This was also noted by the HDZ leader, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, on Monday. "At this point the HDZ has already won in 48 local government units, which speaks of the strength of the HDZ candidates and the strength of the party," he said.
The ruling party has thus already secured mayoral posts in four towns - Pakrac, Skradin, Nin and Hrvatska Kostajnica. The majority of municipalities where the HDZ candidates are running unopposed are located in eastern Osijek-Baranja County.
In addition to the HDZ, some other parties have also already notched victories.
The Istrian Democratic Party (IDS) has sole candidates in two municipalities, the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the Croatian People's Party (HNS) each have one such candidate and candidates of the Independent Democratic Serb Party (SDSS) will face no opposition in three municipalities.
In the southern municipality of Muć, the present long-serving mayor, who is running as an independent, is also the sole candidate.
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Banija Chefs Recognised as Heroes of The Pandemic!
May 4, 2021 - Croatia has received great recognition. The best restaurant in the world, the Danish NOMA, Renea Redjepija, declared the Banija Chefs team from the Chef Cooks Home Association the heroes of the pandemic after they called on everyone who showed up to help in any way to apply.
Večernji List reports, the Chef Cooks Home Association nominated chef Bojan Kljajić, the chef in Sisak during the chefs' humanitarian work after the earthquake in Petrinja, and the volunteer coordinator, Mirta Livingston.
"We are proud to confirm that NOMA announced yesterday that our team has been declared the heroes of the pandemic and will be the first to visit when the restaurant opens after the lockdown, for which they will cook a special dinner," they wrote on the official Instagram page. More details were revealed by chef Mirta Livingston.
"I fainted from happiness when I saw the mail in the evening that we received the award. We have been very kindly asked to confirm that we accept it by May 6th".
"They give a prize by organizing a "Heroes of Pandemic" dinner, and when I found out, I didn't even think about how many winners there were," says the excited volunteer from Banovina who teamed up with many chefs in the earthquake-stricken area, including famous chef Mato Janković. They prepared more than 20 thousand meals for the citizens of Petrinja and the surrounding area.
The dinner will include heroes of the pandemic from all over the world, about a hundred of them - from Croatia to India. "Considering that they only provide dinner, and we pay the travel and accommodation costs ourselves, I don't know how, say, someone from India will get to Denmark," said Mirta.
"So when you ask me what I hope for, I know that Bojan and I can go at our own expense, and my thinking goes in the direction, given that we do not represent Mirta and Bojan, or even the Association ... we represent Croatia, and they are Croatian volunteers between which there is no difference," claims Livingston, explaining that the final recipient of help does not care if someone from Pleter, the Red Cross or their association cooks for him.
"We prepared more than 20 thousand meals and baked two tons of cakes for 0 kuna and thank God that the whole of Croatia is as it is, with a big heart, so that we had donations with which we could do it."
The Chef Cooks at Home association ”is just a wheel, and Bojan and I are an even smaller wheel," Mirta said and added: “ We are talking about Croatia here. That is the Croatian story. I'm not quite sure if it's okay that Bojan and I pay for the ticket ourselves. That ticket can cost 200 euros, and if we found donations for 20 thousand meals, I believe we will find it for a plane ticket, but that is not the point of the story. The point is that Croatia could show the whole world by our example that Croats are good and organized People!" concludes Mirta.
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Brussels Airlines Flights to Dubrovnik and Split from June, Zadar and Zagreb Removed from Network
May 4, 2021 - The latest flight news to Croatia as Brussels Airlines flights to Dubrovnik and Split resume from June, while Zagreb and Zadar are no longer in the Belgian national airline's network of destinations.
Croatian Aviation reports that although the Belgian national airline and Lufthansa group member Brussels Airlines previously announced the reintroduction of scheduled flights this summer from the Belgian capital to four Croatian airports; Dubrovnik, Split, Zadar, and Zagreb, the lines to Zagreb and Zadar are no longer on sale and the company will not operate to the two mentioned airports in the summer.
The company confirmed that they intended to resume the routes to four Croatian airports, but the assessment of the market analysis determined that the demand for Zadar and Zagreb airports will be insufficient this summer season. For this reason, the routes from Brussels to Zadar and Zagreb have been withdrawn from sale and Brussels Airlines will not operate on them this year.
Brussels Airlines has a codeshare contract with Croatia Airlines, which operates regularly between Zagreb and Brussels, so tickets on this route can be purchased on the Brussels Airlines website. With one stop in Zagreb, it is possible to travel to Zadar airport.
However, just like last summer season, Brussels Airlines will soon resume traffic on routes from Brussels to Split Airport and Dubrovnik Airport.
The Brussels - Split - Brussels line will be in operation from Saturday, June 5. The company currently plans only one flight a week on this route throughout the summer season.
The Brussels - Dubrovnik - Brussels line has been announced from June 1, once a week, on Tuesdays, and by mid-June, the company will introduce a second weekly flight, every Saturday.
Follow the latest on flights to Croatia HERE and the latest travel updates and COVID-19 news from Croatia HERE.
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