ZAGREB, January 12, 2020 - The prefect of Krapina-Zagorje County and the head of the county health department said on Saturday, after a fire killed six residents of the "Green Oasis" nursing home, that the home was issued an operating permit for fewer residents than were in the facility during the fire.
Speaking to reporters in Krapina, prefect Željko Kolar said police informed him that 26 residents were in the home in Andraševac at the time of the tragedy.
Martina Gregurović Šanjug, head of the county health department, said the home was issued with a permit in 2012 for eight residents and for another five in 2013.
She said the county was authorised to issue an operating permit when a facility met the minimum technical requirements, while the rest was within the remit of the relevant ministry, including business inspections. She said there had been no complaints about the work of "Green Oasis".
Demography Minister Vesna Bedeković extended her condolences to the families of the victims. Asked by the press in Andraševac if the nursing home had the necessary operating permits, she said this was a private facility and that such facilities obtained such permits from the counties.
Asked if an inspection team from her ministry had ever checked "Green Oasis", she said there had been no complaints about the home.
She announced that her ministry would put present a new social welfare bill "very soon".
Asked about the lack of quality staff in private homes, Bedeković said this was up to the homes.
The chair of the parliamentary Health and Social Policy Committee, Ines Strenja, extended her condolences to the families of the victims and said urgent amendments to regulations and the law on social welfare were necessary for the sake of the tens of thousands of people in nursing homes.
She underlined the importance of decentralising the oversight of such homes, saying in a press release that it was the only way to obtain the real picture of the quality of care and deal with all irregularities in a timely manner.
Strenja said there were over 700 nursing homes in Croatia and that many did not provide adequate care and lacked qualified staff.
She said she had warned the ombudswomen for disabled persons and human rights in a number of reports but that nothing had been done about it.
More news about Krapina-Zagorje County can be found in the Lifestyle section.
