March 18, 2023 - Today's Zagreb protest has been organized by the Croatian Medical Chamber, the Croatian Medical Union, the Croatian Association of Hospital Doctors, the Coordination of Croatian Family Medicine and the Initiative of Young Doctors after a survey showed the great dissatisfaction of doctors in public health, and their readiness to go on strike.

As 24Sata writes, Croatian doctors are dissatisfied because the Ministry of Health has not met their demands and is not solving the accumulated problems in the system.

Zagreb protest should be kicking off at Dr. Franjo Tuđman Square at 10:45 a.m. with a march along Ilica to Ban Jelačić Square, then St. Mark's Square. The planned arrival at St. Mark's Square is at 11:30 a.m., where the main part of the protest will begin at 12:05 p.m.

The organizers announced the largest protest of medical staff so far, expecting a large turnout from all parts of the country.

"The protest is not directed against anyone, it is a protest for better conditions for doctors, for a better health system and ultimately for patients. We invite the officials of the political parties not to come to Mark's Square tomorrow so that the protest is not politicized", said the president of the Croatian Medical Chamber Krešimir Luetić.

The protesters are asking the Prime Minister and the Government to urgently equalize the coefficients of the complexity of the jobs of specialists with narrow specialists, doctors in primary health care with hospital doctors, as well as to increase the coefficients for specialists by at least 10 percent.

They are also asking for the adoption of a law on the labor-legal status of doctors by the end of the spring session of the Parliament, harmonization of the work of doctors at all levels of health care with time-staff norms, and the abolition of "employee" contracts for doctor specializations.

They state that every third young doctor leaves the country, more than 50 municipalities have no primary care doctors, and the health system currently lacks 2,000 doctors and 4,000 nurses. Every third doctor in the system is over 50 years old, and patients have to wait up to 600 days for individual examinations.

Dissatisfied doctors emphasize overload and poor working conditions, inefficient management in the system, devastation of primary health care, non-existent health care reform and continuous ignoring of their requests.

They believe that their requests have exceeded the level of the relevant ministry, so they will send them directly to Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and the Government. The protest is taking place only a day after the key health laws were passed in the Parliament, which, according to the announcements of Minister Vili Beroš, will initiate a structural reform of the system.

In recent days, Beroš has repeated several times that the protest is legitimate, but it is not the way to solve the problem.

He said that doctors are protesting for their material rights even though, in the opinion of many citizens, they "live very well", that their incomes have increased by 43 percent since 2016, and more than 2,000 doctors have a higher salary than the prime minister.

He added that he does not deny that there are problems in the system, but, he says, they should be discussed.

"Good will is needed for an agreement, not a conversation with hidden intents, it is necessary to offer sustainable solutions", he said, warning of a sincere lack of desire and will to resolve things through negotiations and discussion.

Beroš was previously supported by the Croatian Medical Association, the Croatian Association of Family Physicians and the Association of Healthcare Employers (UPUZ). The director of UPUZ, Dražen Jurković, called the protest a "putschist method", and specifically questioned the appropriateness of the participation of certain associations that have public powers, alluding to the Medical Chamber.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated News section.

February the 21st, 2023 - Many are quick to take a (usually warranted) swipe at the state of the Croatian healthcare system. They'd be right to do so. It is grossly mismanaged and chronically underfunded, with both patients and staff suffering the often severe consequences. Croatian doctors, however, just keep on impressing.

Medical wonders never cease at the Radiochirurgia Special Hospital in Zagreb, as the Croatian doctors there are the only ones in the entire world to perform radiosurgical procedures under general anesthesia, which in just one procedure, destroy cancerous tumors of the lungs, pancreas, and prostate without irradiating the delicate surrounding tissues and organs.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, this type of radiosurgery procedure can be performed with a patient referral from HZZO (the Croatian Health Insurance Fund), and the hospital which carries it out cooperates with KB (Clinical Hospital) Merkur and the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing. The results in the fight against cancer are incredible, as reported by HRT.

In one patient, they managed to destroy a form of cancer which causes the deaths of millions each year - an inoperable pancreatic tumor - using radiosurgical ablation.

No blood, no pain, no long recovery

"Over 50 percent of patients live longer than 24 months, and somewhere around 13 percent of them live longer than 4 years. The reactions following the procedure are spectacular. There's no blood, no pain, no long-term recovery, and no postoperative complications. The patient comes, and otherwise it is done in one fraction that lasts for 45 minutes to an hour and a half, depending on the patient, and then the patient goes home. That means that this is actually an outpatient procedure", said hospital director Dragan Schwarz.

During the procedure, the patient must be under general anesthesia so that the radiosurgery procedure can be performed as accurately as possible.

"The problem is that cancerous tumors move within the body, due to breathing, peristalsis and other physiological processes. When under general anesthesia, we achieve a situation in which the patient is completely motionless. The anesthesia stops them breathing and reduces peristalsis. This results in heightened safety of over 90 percent. Even according to our own experience, there's a 98 percent chance that the treated lesion will necrotise and then be destroyed," said Hrvoje Kaucic, head of the radiosurgery and radiotherapy department.

A special role is played by medical physicists who are in charge of ensuring that the linear accelerator accurately and precisely delivers the planned and prescribed dose of radiation.

The pancreas is the biggest challenge of all

Cooperation with colleagues from electrical engineering and computing helps them to be more precise and without the anesthesia. They detect moving organs in order to spare them during the targeted destruction of the tumor. The pancreas, they say, is the biggest challenge within the human body when it comes to this.

"It's a challenge, but we managed through this work to carry out the procedure based on the knowledge of other organs and the mutual relationship between the organs and the pancreas, and we got a fairly precise position of the pancreas. From 80 to 90+ percent of the reliability of the position of an individual organ", said Zdenko Kovacic, head of the Laboratory for Robotics and Intelligent Management Systems.

Experts in radiosurgery together with Croatian doctors from KB Merkur provide patients suffering from the rare cancerous Klackin's tumor a fighting chance for a longer life.

"We've now created a model to start radiation with radiosurgical treatment, where a patient who is a transplant candidate and has a Klackin's tumor receives an ablative dose. After that, we put it on the list and after that we successfully transplant it. Survival is much higher and the odds are much better - oer three years," said Stipislav Jadrijevic, head of the Department of Abdominal Surgery at KB Merkur.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated news section.

February 8, 2023 - Inspection by the Croatian Ministry of Health in some public and private institutions in Zagreb and Split revealed that some Croatian doctors who worked in hospitals were caught outside their workplace and that they were working in private institutions even though they did not have a permit for this from the director of the hospital where they were employed.

Večernji List / Index report. "Doctors who were found to be performing health care activities in institutions other than their primary employer institutions, without the approval of the director, were reported to the competent misdemeanor courts. The directors were also informed about those events in order to take measures in accordance with the Labour Act. In connection with the issue mentioned above, the Ministry of Health will continue to conduct inspections and transparently inform all stakeholders about what has been established," Minister Vili Beroš said.

Some Croatian doctors worked in private practices after they would finish their duties at their primary hospitals or on their days off. The problem lies in the fact that they did not have a permit for that. The valid Ordinance on the additional work of doctors stipulates that doctors who properly fulfill their obligations from the employment relationship and have permission for additional work can conduct such additional work, while working on the side without a permit is considered a violation of the obligations from the employment relationship. When such a violation occurs, the doctor in question will not be allowed to work two jobs for two years.

Even a doctor who works with a permit can end up having it taken away if they do not regularly fulfill their obligations at their primary hospital. Some hospital directors have already acted according to the findings of the inspection and handed warnings to doctors.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated News section.

January 11, 2023 - Incredible success of Croatian doctors from KBC Zagreb - a few days ago, they transplanted a man's heart and liver simultaneously.

As Index writes, Hrvoje Gašparović, head of the Clinic for Cardiac Surgery at KBC Zagreb, commented on the venture for Nova TV. More than 30 people participated in the operation, and the patient is recovering very well.

"Heart transplantation, liver transplantation, in fact, transplantation of all solid organs, is always a race against time. There is a rigid time frame within which the transplantation procedure must be started and completed. When we disconnect the heart from circulation, we usually disconnect it in another country so that we would re-incorporate it into circulation in the Republic of Croatia. We want to do that within four hours. Sometimes we lose more than two hours just for transportation," explained Gašparović.

A complex operation

He pointed out that it is a complex procedure in which four surgical teams participate, which must be carefully coordinated to perform the transplant in the correct sequence.

"The heart transplant happens first, after which the colleagues from abdominal surgery continued the operation and successfully performed their part of the liver transplant," Gašparović pointed out.

Professor Gašparović's team transplanted lungs to a child for the first time in Croatia. "Lung transplantation is a program that has been stable for the past few years," he said, adding that the child received the lungs of an adult.

106 transplants last year

He pointed out that a total of 106 solid organ transplants were performed last year - 27 heart transplants, 26 liver transplants, 43 kidney transplants, and 10 lung transplants.

"It is a comprehensive transplant program that we can be proud of. Transplantation of solid organs in this country is the backbone of our medicine. Hats off to everyone participating, including our transplant coordinators from the Ministry. It is difficult to count all the people who participate in this process", he concluded.

"Regarding the transplantation of solid organs, especially hearts, we are extremely good at the global level. For example, everyone remembers that in 2018 Croatia beat England 2:1, but not many people know that Croatia beat that same England, and Germany too, 9:3 in the number of transplants we do per million inhabitants. Therefore, we have nothing to be ashamed of," said Gašparović.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated Lifestyle section.

November the 18th, 2022 - If you've ever been in need of a Croatian GP but just not been able to get anyone to get you on their list because they're all full, you likely know how frustrating it is. Especially if you've already got that dreaded ear infection. Here's what HZZO (the Croatian Health Insurance Fund) advises.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, if you want to change your general practitioner, you've found the database of general doctors on HZZO's website, but you only get rejections, you might be left scratching your head. As a rule, the choice of Croatian GP is made according to the place of your residence and the nearest healthcare institution, and you have the right to a new doctor one year after your last choice of doctor if you're unsatisfied.

An insured person (by HZZO) can check if a Croatian GP is taking on new patients in several ways. This information can be obtained at your regional HZZO office in person. You can also contact the e-mail address This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., the Croatian Institute for Health Insurance (HZZO) tells tportal.hr. People insured by HZZO can also contact the directorate of health centres in a particular area, and it is also possible to check which GPs have places for enrollment on the HZZO website.

According to the current rules, the minimum number of insured persons who can be assigned to a team in general/family medicine is 1,275, the standard number is 1,700, and the maximum is 2,125 insured persons.

A person's chosen doctor can refuse to take on an insured person only if they have a maximum number of insured persons determined by the general act of the HZZO (for pediatrics 1190 insured persons, for dental health care 2375, and for women's healthcare 9000) under their care already, or, if between the chosen doctor and between the insured person(s) in question, there is a disturbance in mutual relations that makes it impossible to carry out medical treatment.

Insured persons who suspect that they have been improperly refused registration by Croatian GPs can also report the situation to HZZO or to the regional office responsible for their place of residence. In cases of unjustified refusal of patient registration, the competent regional office/area service of the HZZO can carry out an inspection based on the petition of the insured person, and in case of irregularities, it is able to impose the measure provided for in the contract.

GPs and doctors of dental medicine can, on the basis of gaining special approval from HZZO, contract the implementation of healthcare for a new member of an individual family whose family members are mostly treated by that healthcare provider, even in the case when the team has the maximum number of insured persons under their care.

An HZZO insured person can make a change/alter their choice of their chosen doctor by filling in the information on the statement that they can pick up in the office of the doctor they have chosen. The chosen doctor then also enters their data on the declaration form and certifies it with the signature and seal of the healthcare institution or practice in question.

For more, make sure to keep up with our news section.

May 20, 2022 - In an effort to dig deeper into the situation of termination of pregnancy in Croatia, Health Minister Vili Beroš requested last week a list of Croatian doctors who refused to perform abortions owing to conscientious objection. However, according to Croatian media reports, the Ministry always had this list and knew the number.

Last week, Health Minister Vili Beroš asked hospital directors to list all healthcare workers who invoke conscientious objection and refuse to terminate a pregnancy to determine if hospital functioning is compromised, reports Telegram.hr. The move gives the impression that the minister wants to do something after being embroiled in the controversial Čavajda affair but, as Jutarnji list reported in its print edition, Beroš already knew that more than half of doctors in Croatia have a conscientious objection.

When Jutarnji found out that the Minister had asked hospitals to list their employed doctors who have a conscientious objection to abortion, the Ministry did not answer their question, and Beroš did not answer the question of MP Anka Mrak Taritaš, who asked on April 20 how many doctors refused to assist women in the legal termination of pregnancy, which is something guaranteed by law.

Namely, out of a total of 359 hospital gynecologists in Croatia, 164 gynecologists agree to perform abortions/terminations of pregnancy for women until the tenth week of gestation, which is legally regulated and legal, and 195 refuse to do so. Beroš admitted this to RTL on May 9, two days before asking the directors of the country's hospitals to list their doctors with conscientious objections to performing abortions.

''Conscience appeal and termination of pregnancy do not exclude each other''

Beroš then said that in that case "outpatient gynecologists are to be hired in the requested hospital or in the nearest healthcare institution in accordance with the law.''

When asked by Jutarnji whether it makes sense to ask hospitals (yet again) for a list of conscientious objectors when they already know how many refuse to terminate pregnancies, and whether or not the plan is to do something so that women can exercise their legally guaranteed right, the Ministry sent them the same answer as they did to RTL more than ten days ago.

They only added that "they periodically collect data with the aim of actively managing the processes for the benefit of patients and that the right to abortion and to conscientious objection are not mutually exclusive and institutions are obliged to find conditions for exercising both rights." However, Mirela Čavajda could not exercise her legal right in Croatia, so she had to go to Slovenia for her abortion.

For more, check out our politics section.

January the 17th, 2022 - Croatian GPs are beginning to test with rapid antigen tests as of today. Some are more than ready for the move, some are already carrying out this type of coronavirus testing, and some are far from prepared.

As Index vijesti writes, throughout Osijek-Baranja County in particular, everything needed for this is being organised at 70 different locations, as was reported by HRT.

"On January the 13th, we received an instruction from the Ministry of Health about rapid testing intended for all Croatian GPs, it also included information about the protection of preschool children. It stated that all Croatian GPs should be included in the testing. It is recommended that this be at the beginning or end of their working hours in order in order to try to avoid risky contacts,'' said Dr. Justinija Steiner, the director of the Osijek-Baranja County Health Centre.

"We'll do it all as we carried out all of the tasks related to coronavirus, including vaccination and treatment of covid and chronic disease. We managed all that, we're tired and not happy with this new load of work, but we'll do it all," said prof. dr. sc. Hrvoje Tiljak.

Rapid antigen testing will be done by the employees of the Krapina-Zagorje County Health Centre, given that 5,000 rapid antigen tests have arrived at the clinics there.

"I think this will further burden Croatian GPs who are still overwhelmed with their current work and all of the administration," said Nada Dogan, MD. spec. obit. med., director of the Krapina-Zagorje County Health Centre. The organisation of this new way of doing things, as they say, is the biggest challenge of all, and there have already been a few unwanted and sometimes awkward situations.

"Patients have already been coming here, and they have walked in and been waiting in the waiting room among non-covid patients,'' complained Dr. Dubravko Leskovar.

Some Croatian GPs are still indignant about the entire thing and expect clear instructions on the matter.

"I don't know what will happen from Monday on, I haven't received any rapid antigen tests since Friday, I don't have the space or the time to start doing this. There's also absolutely no expert explanation or instruction from the epidemiologists," said Natasa Ban Toskic, president of the Croatian Family Coordination medicine (KoHOM).

Bernard Kaic agrees that this is a major project.

"Health centres need to (the ministry must somehow help doctors in organising this) set aside a certain time for people with coronavirus symptoms to come who need to be tested and separate them from those people without any symptoms who also need a test, and separate both of these groups from all those who don't need a test at all. This is a big organisational project and Croatian GPs simply cannot do it alone,'' believes Bernard Kaic, head of the Epidemiology Service of the CNIPH.

Health Minister Vili Beros: So far, 995 out of 5,000 primary care practices have been carrying out rapid antigen testing.

Minister of Health Vili Beros said on Thursday that so far, 995 primary health care surgeries out of a total of 5,000 surgeries have been performing rapid antigen testing, and he called on them to respond to the needs of their patients due to the current emergency situation.

Rapid antigen testing has so far been performed by 370 GP practices, 558 dental clinics and 17 pediatric clinics. 125,000 tests have been done, Beros told reporters after the recent government session.

Responding to the protests and complaints of Croatian GPs up and down the country, Beros said that his task as a minister was to respond organisationally to the demands of the profession to expand this form of testing. "In the context of the pandemic and these new challenges, we simply thought it would be appropriate for patients to come to their own doctors for help," he says.

Hospitals are burdened with treating covid and non-covid patients and are still testing, so we can't ask them to increase their capacities in this segment. What we can do is enable all Croatian GPs to take care of the patients registered with them. I know that they're also overburdened, but we aren't living in normal times, a global pandemic has been declared and taking care of those suffering as a result of that is our primary task," Beros pointed out.

He believes that Croatian GPs could organise rapid antigen testing during the last hour of their working hours, rejecting claims that he was "at war with Croatian GPs"

"I'm at war with the virus, and they're my comrades-in-arms,'' Beros concluded.

For all you need to know about coronavirus specific to Croatia, make sure to bookmark our dedicated section and select your preferred language if it isn't English.

ZAGREB, 26 Nov 2021 - Two Croatian doctors, Gordana Drpa from the KBC Zagreb hospital, and Matej Šapina from KBC Osijek, are the winners of the 2021 International Medis Awards - a sort of medical Oscar for best research achievements in medicine and pharmacy.

The International Medis Awards for Medical Research rewards excellent researchers from nine countries in Central and Southeast Europe in nine medical fields and this year's winners were proclaimed in Ljubljana on Thursday.

Pulmonologist Gordana Drpa from Zagreb and paediatrician Matej Šapina from Osijek were awarded among 230 researchers who applied for this year's competition from Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, North Macedonia, Slovenia and Serbia.

Dr Drpa won in the area of pulmonology and allergology. She is the author of the first original article on how the ratio of neutrophils and lymphocytes can predict the outcome of extensive stages of lung cancer in small cells. The article was published in the Radiology and Oncology science journal.

Dr Šapina is the first author of an original scientific article dealing with research in geospatial grouping of children's IgA-vasculitis and nefritis syndrome. The article was published in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.

In addition to the two Croatian doctors, other laureates were Marin Jukić from Serbia (pharmacy), Christoph Grander from Austria (gastroenterology), Luka Roškar from Slovenia (gynaecology), Marija Vukoja from Serbia (intensive medicine and anaesthesiology), Aleksandra Tomić Pešić from Serbia (neurology), Fanka Gilevska from North Macedonia (ophthalmology) and Gorica Ristić from Serbia (rheumatology).

The competition was founded in 2014 by the Slovenian Medis pharmaceutical company and it is the main sponsor of the competition.

For more news, CLICK HERE.

May 8, 2021 – Doctors at KBC Zagreb were forced to use an unconventional procedure to save two lives when faced with a pregnant COVID patient whose condition was becoming life-threatening.

Doctors in University Hospital Centre Zagreb (KBC Zagreb) managed to perform quite a feat. They did a successful C-Section procedure on a pregnant woman with a bad case of COVID. The patient had to use a respirator to help her breathe. The procedure in question is a brand new technique that is rare in practise.

The University Hospital Centre Zagreb dates back to 1942 and is the country's biggest hospital. It also acts as a teaching hospital for the University of Zagreb's medical programs. KBC Zagreb is one of the country’s most renowned medical institutions with a long tradition of highly skilled medical professionals. So, it doesn’t come as a surprise the team at this institution was the one to do such a complex and risky procedure so successfully.

Urgent Procedure

As reported by index.hr the patient was 32 weeks pregnant. She came to the hospital with a bad case of COVID. The disease compromised her lungs and the doctors decided to put her on a respirator. Seeing how the condition was life-threatening to both the patient and her baby, they eventually decided to do a Caesarean Section. The procedure involved using an unconventional method that was technically very demanding. Circulation was routed through a dialysis machine and special filter in order to reduce the inflammation process and stabilise the patient. At the same time, aided by a team of gynaecologists, the C-Section was successfully performed and the baby was saved.

Both the mother and the child recovered. The hospital released the child already, while the mother is expecting to go home next week. In the end, the exciting story got a happy conclusion. KBC Zagreb doctors once again proved they are deserving of their professional reputation.

Medical professionals in Croatia continue their exhausting fight against the COVID19 epidemic. They urge the population to follow the safety guidelines and help prevent the spread of the disease. It is important to note how KBC Zagreb is working at full capacity. But the recent trend of a slow, but steady drop in the number of new cases is making everyone a bit more optimistic

For more about Covid-19 in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.