ZAGREB, 10 November, 2021 - Health Minister Vili Beroš said Wednesday that because public health institutions were running above capacity due to COVID, the government plans to enable oncology patients to get timely health care in private institutions which have contracts with the national health insurance bureau (HZZO).
Before that, the HZZO will analyse the capacity and needs for oncology patients' diagnostic exams and operations.
"Given that public health institutions run close to capacity, it is of the utmost importance to enable timely availability of health care, notably to oncology patients. We are following good practice from the spring wave when we ensured the availability of health care for such patients in private institutions which have contracts with the HZZO," Beroš told Hina.
The minister said that an increasing number of new coronavirus cases was putting an additional burden on the system which needed to be 100 percent ready.
"On that note, the Health Ministry has sent a request to the HZZO to analyse, in real time, the existing capacity and the needs of oncology patients for diagnostic exams and surgeries, after which we will decide on the further course of action," the minister said.
