ZAGREB, May 2, 2018 - The centre of excellence and education of the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) was formally opened on Wednesday in the Dubrava clinical hospital in Zagreb by President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović and the Federation's leader Nam Cho.
The IDF is an umbrella organisation of over 230 national diabetes associations in 170 countries and territories.
Currently, 286,000 persons in Croatia suffer from diabetes, however an estimated 450,000 may be at risk of this disease.
A fifth (20%) of the budget of the Croatian Health Insurance Fund (HZZO) is spent on treatment of diabetes, and the lion's share (88%) of the funds set aside for diabetes are used for treating complications due to belated diagnoses.
President Grabar-Kitarović said that health preservation and prevention of illnesses was a responsibility of not only individuals but also of the whole society. Caring for one's health is a fundamental constitutional right, she added.
Addressing the ceremony, Health Minister Milan Kujundžić expressed satisfaction with the fact that the Dubrava hospital became eligible to become the IDF Centre of Excellence in Diabetes Care.
The head of department of endocrinology, diabetes and metabolic diseases at the Dubrava University Hospital Dario Rahelić warned that one in ten Croats had diabetes, and expressed hope that the newly-opened centre would help improve the results in treatment of this disease.
