October 20, 2021 - Mali Lošinj, Rab, Zadar, Šibenik, Supetar, and Dubrovnik will receive modern high-speed medical boats in the next two years, finally establishing an emergency maritime medical service in these areas.
This long-awaited project worth almost HRK 77 million is co-financed by EU Funds and will significantly increase the level of health and safety of people in the coastal area, while with all the necessary equipment in outpatient clinics at initial destinations will be performed to determine the need for emergency intervention and transportation to the nearest hospital on land, reports HRTurizam.
The procurement of 6 fast boats with the necessary equipment to provide emergency medical care will be located in stationary ports in Mali Lošinj, Rab, Zadar, Šibenik, Supetar, and Dubrovnik. The boats will be built by the communities of bidders: Tehnomont Shipyard and ISKRA Shipyard.
Boats and related equipment will also be used for search and rescue purposes and to provide medical assistance in cases of maritime accidents and maritime disasters. Also, to prevent unnecessarily high costs of transport from the island to the mainland by fast boats, in dispensaries at the initial destinations of patient care, it will be possible to perform simple qualitative or quantitative medical-biochemical tests using automatic biochemical analyzers to determine the necessity of emergency intervention of transport to the nearest emergency medical institution/hospital on land.
For this purpose, the project will provide 12 automatic biochemical blood analyzers that will be distributed in 12 branches of the Institute of Emergency Medicine - Blato on Korcula, Korcula, Lastovo and Mljet in Dubrovnik-Neretva County, Cres, Mali Losinj, and Rab in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, Jelsa on Hvar, Supetar, Šolta and Vis in the Split-Dalmatia County and Preko in the Zadar County.
While this is great news, HRTurizam writes that it is also necessary to provide helicopter services on the islands and the coast and that it is the civilizational reach of the 21st century where we must provide all island residents with quality health care, and thus for the safety of tourists as a serious tourist destination.
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