ZAGREB, Dec 3, 2020 - Since November 30, inspectors from the Civil Protection Directorate have carried out 1,023 inspections of businesses and public gatherings to check their compliance with COVID-19 restrictions, issuing 76 warnings, after which the shortcomings were removed, Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic said at a cabinet meeting on Thursday.

Bozinovic said that the irregularities mostly concerned failure to display a notice of the number of customers allowed on the premises at any given time, failure to keep a safe distance at supermarket checkouts, and the use of face masks by customers and staff.

ZAGREB, Dec 3, 2020 - Health Minister Vili Beros said on Thursday that in the last seven days the number of hospitalised COVID-19 patients had increased 18% on the week,  announcing remuneration for medical professionals catering for this category of patients.

Currently, 2,501 persons who have caught the novel virus are receiving hospital treatment, of whom 258 are on ventilators, Beros said during a government meeting.

Also, 1,516 medical professionals who have tested positive for coronavirus are currently out of work and an additional 1,032 are in self-isolation, he added.

Currently, 74.44% of beds allotted for COVID patients are occupied, and 44.87% of respiratory centres' capacities are occupied, the minister said, adding that the health system would further adapt to developments.

Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic said that the civil protection directorate had to date delivered 495,000 items of protective gear, or about 50 tonnes.

The logistics centre in Jastrebarsko currently stores 11 million items of protective gear, he added.

ZAGREB, Dec 3, 2020 - As soon as the European Medicines Agency (EMA) approves coronavirus vaccines, Croatia will be engaged in the process of distribution of vaccines that will be free of charge in the country, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Thursday.

Plenkovic, who has been recently diagnosed with the coronavirus infection, chaired an online session of his cabinet from his home and on that occasion recalled that the EMA has announced its decision on the approval of COVID vaccinations, developed by Pfizer, by the end of this year.

"As soon as this happens, we will be engaged in the process of the distribution of the vaccines in compliance with the agreement on pre-ordered vaccine jabs," Plenkovic said.

The shipment of the first 125,000 doses can be expected soon, and two doses of the vaccine are to be administered for immunisation.

Plenkovic said that healthcare workers, residents of retirement homes, patients suffering from chronic diseases and senior citizens would be first to get the vaccine.

"Vaccine jabs will be free of charge, as this is the tradition of the Croatian healthcare system," Plenkovic said.

Plenkovic commented on Thursday morning's consultations with the president of the EU Council and a few EU senior officials on the approval and delivery of vaccines.

"My main message during those consultations is that upon approval, the distribution of vaccines should be efficient, simultaneous and in proportion to the pre-ordered amounts of doses from countries, and we will thus have a pan-European approach to the protection of citizens' health," said he.

Pandemic not ebbing away

Plenkovic warned that the intensity of the COPVID-19 pandemic did not subside.

In the last five weeks, the number of infections increased from 45 million to 64 million worldwide.

"In that period the number of infections has rise twice in Europe, from six to 12 million, and in Croatia the coronavirus numbers increased threefold from 43,000 to 131,000. A similar trend has been observed in Austria, Slovenia, Hungary and Serbia," Plenkovic said, reiterating that therefore the latest restrictions were necessary.

December 3, 2020 - The EPIC Webinars continue, with Claudia Mika of TEMOS and Daniel Coulton-Shaw of GCR discussing Innovations & Standards: Conflict or Convergence?

It has been 8 months since the postponement of the European Patient experience & Innovations Congress, and since then EPIC activities have been transferred to the online world in the form of monthly webinars. Among EPIC partners, we have added Cisco Webex, an American company that develops and sells web conferencing and video conferencing programs. It was founded as WebEx in 1995 and was taken over by Cisco Systems in 2007. Their platform allowed to hold one-hour EPIC Webinars once a month on current topics complementary to the conceptual themes of the congress. Our webinar speakers are mostly lecturers already planned and presented for the original congress. So far, 6 webinars with 10 speakers have been held, and online participants from 35 countries around the world participated and listened to EPIC webinars, asking questions and actively discussed the topics.

EPIC is a stage and platform for bringing together experts in health and innovation that has a wide range of activities, but also potential outcomes for all gathered.

The next webinar, and thus the last in 2020, will be held on December 17th 2020 at 6.00 pm CET on the topic Innovations & Standards: Conflict or Convergence? December speakers are Dr. Claudia Mika - Founder and CEO of Temos International Healthcare Accreditation and Daniel C. Shaw - Ambassador for the Global Clinic Rating.

Dr. Mika has been advising different associations and governmental institutions regarding quality related topics, patient experience and international patient management. She was awarded the Dr. Sanjiv Malik Lifetime Award for her significant contribution to the development of the medical travel sector. In 2020, Dr. Mika developed together with her expert team a set of standards to help healthcare organizations worldwide to minimize the risk of COVID-19 transmission in healthcare settings.

Anyone who knows Daniel Coulton Shaw will tell you that he is an enthusiastic storyteller full of practical ideas that will set your head spinning. His entertaining presentations are largely inspired by the successes and failures from 152 forward-thinking international private medical organizations, health clusters, hospitals, clinics and practices across 26 countries worldwide of multiple specialties. Daniel loves to put theory into practice in the day-to-day running of a successful international dental clinic for English-speaking patients in central Europe that he co-founded back in 2007.

Google is betting that the future of healthcare is going to be structured data and AI. Along with Apple, Amazon and their Asian equivalents, these companies are applying AI to disease detection, new data infrastructure, and potentially insurance. In this months EPIC webinar, Daniel Coulton Shaw explores how the standards of healthcare provided and the choices of the patient are exponentially expanding.

“If AI can shape healthcare and patient choice, it has to work through the regulations of healthcare … In fact, I see that as one of the biggest areas where the focus of Google will play out for the next 10 – 20 years.” — Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google

Accreditation in healthcare, which should include regular onsite inspections plays a crucial role in maintaining quality, patient safety and experience, outcomes, and much more.

When the pandemic reached us earlier this year, it forced Temos to overcome the first shock, face the challenge, and react. The standard procedures that had worked for more than ten years had to be revisited. In this case,” innovation” was needed where “standardization” is a keyword.

After consulting key stakeholders, it was decided to postpone all scheduled in-person onsite assessments to prevent risks for the assessors and the healthcare providers. At the same time, it was clear that this must not have any negative consequences for the organizations’ accreditation cycle. Flexible planning for accreditation programs became the new “standard” to develop COVID-19 safe hospital and clinic environments.

Join this great webinar on December 17^th at 6:00 CET at the following link.

For more on the Croatian medical tourism industry, follow the dedicated TCN link. 

December 3, 2020 - Life just got even better for the citizens of Sveta Nedelja, as Croatia's most progressive administration introduces free bus transport. 

Regular readers may recall that I spent a fabulous weekend in Sveta Nedelja several weeks ago, where the local authorities showed me around the town's tourism and business attractions. Both seem to have the little town just outside Zagreb rather a desirable place to be. Last month, it was voted the best medium-sized town in Croatia for the economy for the third year in a row, as well as being in the top 5 towns for quality of life. An impressive double.

One of the things I remember from a very enjoyable weekend was a question from the then deputy mayor, Davor Nadji.

"Is there anything we could be doing better? Anything you see that is missing in our town?"

It was the type of question I may have expected in a previous life, but since moving to Croatia, I have become used to public officials telling me how great they are and taking credit for everything (much of which has little to do with them). To seek out advice or suggestions from a visiting foreigner? Very rare. 

I promised I would try and come up with something, but it is not that easy when it comes to Sveta Nedelja, for here is a town which is VERY different. And they seem to have thought of everything already. 

In an age of mess emigration, population decline and economic crisis, here is a town where the population has increased 10% since the 2011 census, jobs have increased 20% since 2017, unemployment is at just 3.9%, and there seem to be more kindergartens than anywhere I have seen in the country. Add to that the most transparent administration in Croatia, with local business taxes slashed, and it is hard to find anything to suggest. 

Especially when they deliver on other innovative initiatives, such as free bus transport. As we reported previously, Sveta Nedelja Mayor Dario Zurovec announced the news of Facebook a few weeks ago, also sharing a video test run explaining how the system would work:

Today I signed a contract with the bus carrier Arriva to provide a bus service in the area of ​​the town of Sveta Nedelja. We will announce the exact start date of the traffic soon, after we have just solved a few small formalities. Passengers on local buses will not have to buy tickets. Below you can read how the concept was conceived, and we will inform you about the exact schedules and timetable just before the start of operations.

As part of our free public transport we will introduce 3 lines to Podsused that allow you to connect to trains. In this way, passengers will have more favorable conditions because the ticket will not cost them anything until they change to the train. Additionally, this way you avoid traffic jams on the roads to the center of Zagreb or even the east, and it is possible to travel to Zaprešić. Those who do not like the train will be able to continue their journey on ZET buses:

* from the Podsused roundabout towards the Ljubljanica and Črnomerec

* on the other side of the railway in Podsused (Av. Bologne) towards Črnomerec and Zaprešić

Also, at the other end of one of the bus lines, it will be possible to change to ZET in Kalinovica (on the old road) and from there travel to the Sava Bridge.

As for traveling to Samobor, there is an option to travel to Sveta Nedelja or Strmec by free public transport and then change to Samoborček / Autoturist.

The introduction of free public transport does not mean that existing bus carriers stop running. So, they continue to operate, because their lines are inter-county and county, which is why they are not under our jurisdiction. This means that the same Samoborček / Autoturist lines continue to run at the same prices to Zagreb and Samobor until these carriers decide otherwise.

In the future, we intend to further improve this free public transportation service.

With the current legal framework, this is a big step forward and far better than the model we have had so far. This concept of city transport allows you to get anywhere within the city of Sveta Nedelja without paying a ticket, and to get to Zagreb quickly and for a very low price because you only pay the train or ZET. Also, this will make the trip to Samobor cheaper. In addition to all that, departure times will be frequent throughout the week, but also on weekends and holidays, while night lines will also run on weekends and holidays. The carrier was selected through a public tender, the value of the contract is about 4.2 million kuna per year and is financed entirely from the town budget.

In this way, Sveta Nedelja has once again become an example to other towns in Croatia. In addition to the quality of service to citizens, additional benefits of this kind of public transport are that there will be fewer cars and less traffic jams, fewer traffic accidents, less CO2 emissions, with of course a more favorable situation for your home budgets.

Thanks to all my collaborators and Davor Nadji who worked with us on this project until recently. I am happy that we are fulfilling our promises, and we will not stop there. More good news for our Sveta Nedelja is coming soon!

The new free bus service went into operation on December 1, a nice boost for the local population in these challenging times. 

The service will be free for everyone. 

A timetable has been published on the official town website.

Annual travel passes are being prepared for local residents. The initial routes will undergo an initial 60-day test period, during which times the routes and departure times will be assessed. Any changes thereafter will be communicated well in advance. The authorities are also open to suggestions from the public and have set up a designated email address for this purpose - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Sveta Nedelja is a great story which we will be following is more detail over the next 12 months and more, a true example of how things CAN work in Croatia. Here is an overview of the first part of my first visit to Croatia's newest town - read more in Sveta Nedelja Beyond Rimac: Jobs, Innovation, Nature, Population Growth.

You can follow the latest in the Sveta Nedelja revolution in our dedicated TCN section. 

ZAGREB, Dec 3, 2020 - A record number of 4,534 new coronavirus cases and 48 infection-related deaths have been registered in Croatia in the last 24 hours, the national coronavirus response team said on Thursday morning.

The number of active cases currently stands at 23,942, and 2,501 of them are being treated in hospitals, including 258 who are on ventilators.

Since February 25, when the first case was confirmed in Croatia, a total of 139,415 people have been infected with the novel virus, of whom 1,964 have died and 113,509 have recovered, including 3,154 in the last 24 hours.

Currently, 57,894 people are in self-isolation.

A total of 780,257 people have been tested to date, including 11,166 in the last 24 hours.

The latest number of 4,534 infections is a new single-day record. Only twice have more than 4,000 cases been recorded in a single day to date - on November 26 (4,009 cases) and November 27 (4,080).

December the 3rd, 2020 - The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has caused numerous often very serious issues for economic activity all over the world, but despite these woes, the Croatian AD Plastik Group has contracted 24 million euros in new business for no less than Suzuki's redesigned S-Cross model, the auto parts manufacturer from Solin announced on Tuesday.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the AD Plastik Group will deliver various exterior and interior components from three of its locations, so that, in addition to its Hungarian factory, components for this Japanese car manufacturer will be delivered from factories in Solin and Zagreb for the very first time.

The Croatian AD Plastik Group has also become a development partner for Suzuki and a supplier in its painting technology. The company is responsible for the development of some extremely demanding products, which gives the project even more significance, and at the same time, Magyar Suzuki Corporation recognised the factory in Zagreb as one of the best in the entire region when it comes to painting technology, according to the AD Plastik Group.

The estimated duration of the project is currently seven years, and the start of serial production is planned for the end of 2021 at the Hungarian factory - Esztergom.

A member of the management board for the sales and projects of the AD Plastik Group, Mladen Peros, pointed out that one of their strategic goals during the acquisition of the production location over in neighbouring Hungary was the diversification of their customer portfolio.

''The job we've contracted is very important for the future development of the business because we've expanded our cooperation, contracted aspect positions with added value and also entered the panel of development suppliers. We agreed on part of the work as a first-tier supplier, and part as a second-tier supplier through the company Euroasia, which is their long-term logistics partner,'' explained Peros.

As a development supplier, the AD Plastik Group is responsible for the development and validation of products, processes, tools and devices. In addition to injection molding technology, the project includes dyeing, blowing, chromium plating, extrusion and the assembly of various types of technology that include vibration and ultrasonic welding.

It's also worth mentioning that the Suzuki S-Cross is among the ten best-selling vehicles in all of Central and Eastern Europe, and it is a crossover that has the features of a compact car with solutions used in off-road models.

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December the 3rd, 2020 - The Croatian Bellabeat, which currently holds an enviably strong position on the market as a data company and has overcome many an obstacle since its founding, has seen a very well known economist from Scandinavia join its already impressive ranks.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the Croatian Bellabeat is continuing to raise the business it engages in to an even higher level by having economist Jeppe Christiansen join its team. The economist is otherwise world-renowned expert in investment and business circles.

Thw world-renowned Scandinavian economist is also a professor at the University of Copenhagen and a director at the Lego Group, the world's largest toy manufacturer. On top of all of that, he is also vice president of Novo Nordisk, a multinational pharmaceutical company with manufacturing facilities and offices across thirteen countries and annual revenue of 19.2 billion US dollars.

Jeppe will focus on positioning he Croatian Bellabeat as a data firm and help them make key collaborations with the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries, where they see huge potential for Bellabeat because of the data it has.

The Croatian Bellabeat was otherwise among the very first to recognise the great global leap of the women’s wellness industry. Over the past four years, they have developed an original approach in the wellness sector and introduced personalised wellness programmes based on the menstrual cycles of women. The Croatian Bellabeat uses about 50,000 new data sets for each person, and by putting highly individual data at the very centre of the algorithm, Bellabeat provides each woman with the optimal way to achieve her goals including a weight loss programme, maintaining her desired weight, achieving pregnancy, optimising sleep, and much more.

With his economic knowledge and world-renowned investment experience, Jeppe Christiansen will make a significant contribution to Bellabeat over the next phase of this successful Croatian company's expansion and the desired conquest of the demanding and challenging wellness market.

''Bellabeat has a very strong position in the market as a data company, given that old industries such as pharmaceuticals have very serious problems in the wellness sector, as well as innovations in that same sector, and if they go in this direction, Bellabeat has a great chance to establish itself as a leading data company on the global wellness market,'' stated Jeppe Christiansen.

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