August the 16th, 2022 - Replacements of certain medicines are set to arrive on the Croatian market as making savings becomes extremely necessary in the enfeebled Croatian healthcare system.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Josipa Ban writes, counting the pennies within the wider Croatian healthcare system, especially in the consumption of medicines, is now more needed than ever. We've been witnessing accumulated debts for medicines for decades now, which, after numerous rehabilitation attempts by the Ministry of Finance, are still far from reduced. In fact, they only grew enough to reach slightly more than six billion kuna at the end of April this year.

HUP - the Association of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers have been warning about some of these debts for some time, noting that they definitely can be reduced. The Croatian healthcare system's annual savings could rise from the current 300 million to as much as one billion kuna if consumption were to increase and the procedure for including generic drugs on HZZO's list of drugs for the Croatian market was finally accelerated.

There are some substitute drugs that come to the Croatian market when the patent rights to the original drug eventually expire. As their placing on the Croatian market means more competition, the price of the medicine also drops at the same time. The situation here, at least according to data from back in 2019, is that 61 percent of the volume in the consumption of prescription drugs across the Republic of Croatia is made up of generic drugs, and they only account for 5% of the total healthcare sector's budget.

"Although this percentage has been increasing over the years, it's still somewhat lower than the EU average, which stands at 67 percent. This shows us that there is still a great potential for the use of generic drugs in this country,'' they emphasised from HUP- the Association of Medicines Manufacturers, whose members, in the period from 2010 to 2020, invested a total of 5.4 billion kuna. As far as biosimilar medicines are concerned, the situation is much worse, and back in 2019 they occupied a modest 13 percent of the Croatian market.

A complicated procedure...

One of the reasons for the lower consumption of generic and biosimilar drugs, which causes higher expenditures for such medicines, is the procedure that manufacturers must go through in order to get on HZZO's drugs list.

Jerko Jaksic, president of the PharmaS Management Board and president of the HUP Association of Drug Manufacturers, explained that the process of placing a generic drug on the Croatian market takes approximately one to two years.

"The first stage is the registration of the drug with HALMED or, for biosimilar drugs, with the European Medicines Agency (EMA). After approval from HALMED or EMA, it takes up to six months for the HZZO to place the drugs on their list. Although the situation is somewhat better than it was around ten years ago, that part of HZZO could and should be accelerated. What I mean by that is that following HALMED and EMA approval, these medicines should automatically be included in the lists of medicines, without any additional administrative steps because there's no need for them. Unfortunately, here too we have an example of resistance to changes and adaptation of the system, as well as the classic slowness of the administration,'' pointed out Jaksic, adding that automatic inclusion would speed up processes and the arrival of medicines on the Croatian market, as would cheaper drug therapies for patients in three to six months.

"It would also bring savings of several tens of millions of kuna on an annual level for the entire Croatian market," said the president of the PharmaS Management Board. HUP noted that the role of generic and biosimilar drugs is extremely important for both the healthcare system and the patients themselves.

"In fact, these drugs make many key therapies available to more patients, and for the same or at a lower cost than before their introduction. For example, two to three boxes of prescription drugs issued in Croatia come from the generic industry, and the share of generic drugs in the cost of all drugs is only 27 percent. If we look at the pharmacy system, the share of generic drugs is 65 percent, and this accounts for less than 40% of the drugs budget," they explained.

Great potential

In addition to all of the aforementioned, there is no fear for the patient because prescription drugs and generic drugs are the most organised part of the healthcare system. Jerko Jaksic noted that their importance has long been recognised by GPs. However, hospital doctors are not yet following suit.

"Hospital doctors have a lower level of knowledge of generic and especially biosimilar therapies, they also lack a developed awareness of the financial savings they can enable. There's a great untapped potential there, above all in the sense of using cheaper generic and biosimilar therapies in order to reduce costs for hospitals,'' said Jaksic.

There are, therefore, several mechanisms that we must change in order to accelerate the introduction of generic and biosimilar drugs on the Croatian market, and thereby contribute to significant savings.

"It's necessary to systematically implement the existing regulations for the determination of the price of drugs, to include generic drugs on HZZO's drugs list faster, and to enable the faster penetration of generic and biosimilar drugs into the wider hospital system,'' the HUP Association of Drug Manufacturers believes.

With these measures, along with measurements of treatment outcomes, they say, savings in the healthcare system can reach up to 1 billion kuna per year. So, the ruling party has a solution. But is the will there?

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

June the 28th, 2022 - The Rudjer Boskovic Institute is no stranger to European and international praise and rounds of applause, and with its latest project, there could be a real turnaround on the cards in terms of healthcare provision.

Croatia has been given the opportunity to be a European driver of digital change in healthcare, and the project of the public-private consortium AI4Health "Artificial Intelligence for Smart Health and Medicine" was excellently evaluated by the European Commission (EC) within the Digital Europe programme.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Josipa Ban writes, this means that the project, whose holder and coordinator is the Rudjer Boskovic Institute, along with the help of fifteen other partners, should become the Croatian EDIH (European Digital Innovation Hub).

The signing of the contract with the EC is expected in the third quarter, and it will provide the consortium with a sum of three million euros over the next three years. During that period, says Anja Baresic, the coordinator for partners from the Rudjer Boskovic Institute, Croatia has the opportunity to position itself among the leaders in the transformation of European health systems with the help of artificial intelligence (AI).

"Our goal is for at least part of the innovation based on artificial intelligence to come to life within the scope of Croatian healthcare, from which patients, healthcare professionals and innovators will benefit the most," Baresic pointed out.

Four types of service

As she explained, although this country does have a decent number of innovators and startups in the field of healthcare, their AI solutions find it difficult to find their way to the healthcare system itself and really enter into practical application for several reasons. A common challenge is that they have nowhere to test these innovations in the development phase, and there is a real vagueness in terms of legislation regarding the entry of AI solutions into the market, especially in the healthcare sector where the risks are high. That should finally change thanks to this Rudjer Boskovic Institute project.

“In the hub for the application of artificial intelligence in healthcare that we're going to establish, we'll provide four types of services; pre-investment testing, assistance in accessing funding sources, improving skills and knowledge and networking ecosystems,'' explained Baresic. All this will be possible because the consortium consists of actors from all sectors necessary for AI to come to life in practice - science, medicine, industry and the public sector.

According to Nina Sesto, the assistant director of the Magdalena Clinic and the project coordinator for health, this will be the key to the digitalisation of the Croatian healthcare system.

"The biggest shifts occur when different worlds grow closer, that is, when everyone comes and sits at the same table, jointly defines obstacles and also tries to find solutions," she said.

The assistant director of the Clinic, which has had a telecardiology centre for more than twenty years now and monitors patients remotely, says there are some huge obstacles to significant digitalisation and application of AI not only here in Croatia, but all over the world.

“New technologies and tools need to gain the trust of the clinicians who need to use these new digital tools in treating their patients. Maximum transparency and a clear legal framework are needed,'' she stated, adding that Magdalena is also working on developing their own innovation.

In the middle of the global coronavirus pandemic, they launched an impressive virtual clinic, and by the end of the year, the digital assistant Megi, intended for chronic cardiovascular patients, should come to life. In the initial development of Megi, the startup Mindsmiths, the founder of which is Mislav Malenica, who is also the president of CroAI, an association that has been part of the AI4Health consortium from the beginning and which gave Andrija to the Croatian healthcare system in the middle of the pandemic, also participated.

Malenica predicts a bright future for this Rudjer Boskovic Institute project on the basis of which Croatia could become part of the digital revolution. He noted the healthcare sector was not randomly selected.

“When AI started to develop we thought it would contribute to greater equality across all segments of life and in our society, but it ended up making some even bigger differences. We gathered together a team of experts from various fields and realised that healthcare is a sector that lacks digital innovations and that we can be the first to implement something in this area,'' Malenica recalled.

He added that the problems in different healthcare systes around the world are a reality and that there is an obvious need for solutions. Hospital systems are becoming increasingly congested, and this is putting pressure on both staff and hospital costs, not to mention patient waiting times which may well be critical.

The solutions provided by AI, according to Deloitte research, can save about 400,000 lives a year, save about two million man-hours and about 200 billion euros a year.

For more, make sure to check out Made in Croatia.

May 21, 2022 - The costs of Croatian hospitals have skyrocketed. Bills are up to five times higher than last year, so an additional 3.5 billion kuna provided to the Croatian healthcare system from the recent rebalance of the state budget won't be enough to cover expenses.

Even after the rebalance of the state budget, which will provide the healthcare system with an additional three and a half billion kuna this year, which means that instead of the planned 32 billion it will now have 35 and a half billion kunas, hospital directors still say that this will be a difficult year with much uncertainty due to a lot of unknowns in expenses, reports Index.hr.

Namely, the recent warning of wholesalers that debts for medicines continue to grow despite last year's injection of 6.3 billion from the state budget and that they reached as much as six billion kunas, of which four billion are due, is the reason for this early rebalance. Two billion is intended for Croatian hospitals, and one and a half billion for the Croatian Health Insurance Fund for the settlement of old debts.

Bills are five times higher than last year

For now, it is certain to say that 35.5 billion kunas for this year will not cover all costs, which is confirmed by Croatian hospitals bills from the first four months of 2022. They stand out especially for energy, food, and medicine, which in some cases are five times higher than in the same period last year. Therefore, it is not surprising that the losses of the system on a monthly basis are between 400 and 500 million kunas, which could mean a hole in the health fund of at least five billion kunas by the end of the year.

"Our costs increased in the first four months of this year compared to the same period last year by a total of 5.52 percent. But worrying is the fact that energy costs increased the most, by as much as percent, or from 7.8 to 15 million kunas. The cost of food products grew by 8.4 percent, and compared to 2020 by 40 percent, which is a huge increase'', said Dr. Alen Ruzic, director of KBC Rijeka.

Medicines haven't kept the previous numbers of consumption either, so in the first four months, they were 7.76 percent more expensive than last year, and by almost 20 percent compared to 2020.

In the largest Croatian hospital, KBC Zagreb, costs increased by 6.5 percent or HRK 71 million from January to the end of April compared to the same period last year, as it increased from HRK 1,099 billion to HRK 1,171 billion.

During the pandemic, KB Dubrava was a COVID hospital, so some data from last year jumped out of the usual amounts, such as spending on drugs, which were lower than spending in previous years when the hospital was operating at full capacity for all patients. But it is clear that this hospital pays for the largest energy guild, especially the one for gas.

For more, check out our politics section.

ZAGREB, 16 May 2022 - About 400 ambulance drivers and paramedics went on strike on Monday saying they will continue striking until their demands are met and their pay is aligned with that of drivers in the medical system, with shop steward Vladimir Markuš saying that the Health Ministry pushed them into the strike.

"The consequences of the strike will be visible already today and even more tomorrow. We are going until our demands are met, but unfortunately, the Health Ministry has literally pushed us into this strike," Markuš told Hina.

The strikers are calling for a regulation that would align their earnings at the country level because now their wages vary up to HRK 1,500 in some cases, depending on which county they are in.

Ambulance drivers are striking in several counties and cities.

About 400 ambulance drivers are on strike at local health clinics, while another 300 drivers at emergency medical centers in seven counties, who are not allowed to strike, are working to rule.

Markuš added that the only response strikers received from the ministry were that Minister Vili Beroš was "away today" and he had made a statement yesterday.

"The minister is calling for care for Croatian citizens who will not be getting their rights, yet he contributed to the fact that many people have not been able to exercise their rights. Patients have been waiting for MRI tests for up to a year and a half. These people are being deprived," Markuš said.

"We will not leave patients without care. Those needing transport will get it but those who are not urgent cases won't because only about 30% of drivers are working and they cannot handle all that work," added Markuš.

Markuš appealed to the ministry to resolve their problem so that the system does not collapse.

"We are waiting for the competent authorities to do their job and adopt a regulation on indexation. As soon as it is adopted, we will cease the strike," Markuš said.

For more, check out our politics section.

May 14, 2022 - Out of a total of 359 gynecologists in Croatian hospitals, 195 refuse to perform abortions.

Of the 29 public hospitals in Croatia that have a contracted abortion service with the HZZO on request, in six of them, no gynecologist wants to do so because they have a conscience appeal, writes Večernji list. Clinical Hospital Sveti Duh in Zagreb, General County Hospital Vinkovci, OŽB Našice, and OŽB Požega and General Hospitals in Virovitica and Nova Gradiška are institutions whose gynecologists employed there have called to conscience and do not want to perform abortions at the request of women.

In the Požega hospital, along with gynecologists and all five anesthesiologists, they also called for conscience and do not perform abortions. Out of a total of 359 hospital gynecologists in Croatia, 164 gynecologists agree to work in public hospitals at the request of a woman by the legally regulated and legal procedure of abortion, and 195 refuse to do so.

Due to his conscientious objection, 38 out of a total of 698 specialists in anesthesiology, resuscitation, and intensive care, as many as work in Croatian hospitals, refuse to perform abortions, according to data from the Digital Atlas of Medicine of the Croatian Medical Chamber. Some nurses and midwives and even pharmacists in pharmacies also called for a conscience appeal, but we did not find out exactly how many.

There is no conscience appeal in some hospitals

The conscientious objection in an individual hospital is regulated by the employee writing a statement invoking the right to conscientious objection and delivering it to the employer, such as the personnel or legal service, the director's office or the hospital board, and in some cases appeals are only recorded at the gynecology department.

There is no uniform practice. There are no or almost no appeals of conscience in hospitals in Rijeka, Karlovac, Ogulin, Sisak, Koprivnica, Pakrac, Knin, Vukovar, Pula and Čakovec.

All hospitals whose doctors invoked conscience for abortion have hired doctors from another institution, to whom they then pay extra or have contracts with the health institution where the procedure is performed. Thus, they have fulfilled the legal obligation that they must ensure legal and accessible abortion, writes the journalist of Večernji list Romana Kovačević Barišić.

For more, check out our lifestyle section.

February 11, 2022 - When retiring in Croatia, one of the key concerns when considering a move overseas is healthcare, and trying to navigate this space can be a daunting prospect especially for those looking to spend an extended amount of time in Croatia. 

We are here to answer some of the questions on healthcare in Croatia by giving a brief overview of available options, covering factors such as costs, accessibility, and quality of healthcare.

What type of healthcare is available in Croatia?

In Croatia, as either a temporary or permanent resident, you will have access to both state and private healthcare sectors.

There are three main types of state healthcare coverage in Croatia:

• Obavezno zdravstveno osiguranje – Basic public health insurance (mandatory)
• Dopunsko zdravstveno osiguranje – Supplemental health insurance from either public or private providers
• Dodatno zdravstveno osiguranje – Premium private supplemental health insurance offered by banks and private insurers

Let’s start with the basic public health insurance “obavezno” since it is mandatory for all 3^rd country residents of Croatia, unless you are on a Digital Nomad Visa, where private health insurance will suffice.

State healthcare - Overview

State healthcare in Croatia is regulated by Hrvatski zavod za zdravstveno osiguranje (HZZO), otherwise known as the Croatian Health Insurance Fund (CHIF).

The breadth and scope of this coverage is extensive. Once you’re in the system, you will have access to high-quality primary (e.g. general practitioners, gynecologists, dentists), secondary (e.g. specialists), and emergency care (e.g. hospitalization). Emergency care also extends to other member states within the European Union.

A wide range of medical prescriptions and certain healthcare aids (e.g. orthopedic, dental, diabetic) are also covered by basic public health insurance.

Before moving, check with your current doctors if your prescription is available locally, or if there is an equivalent that may be under a different brand. You can also look it up in this list if it is covered by HZZO.

Image: Pexels

State healthcare - Monthly premiums

As a 3^rd country national, you can expect your monthly premiums to be around 618.75 HRK (€82) per person as of 2022. This calculation is based on the minimum salary average in Croatia as determined by the Croatian Bureau of Statistics (DZS).

However, if you are receiving a foreign pension, the onus is on you to declare it to the local authorities, especially if your pension is deposited to a Croatian bank account.

Of the amount you receive in foreign pension, 16.5% will go towards monthly HZZO premiums. This contribution is capped at a minimum amount of 618.75 HRK (€82) and a maximum of 1573.60 HRK (€208.70), based on the lowest (3,750 HRK/€497.35) and highest salary averages (9,537 HRK/€1284.85) in Croatia as of 2022.

When you first sign up for HZZO, you will also have to back pay the previous 12 months of monthly premiums even if you were not living in Croatia during that time. Assuming you have no foreign pension declared, this will amount to approximately 8,043.75 HRK (12 + 1 month) (€1066.81).

State healthcare - What will you pay for a visit?

Now that you have public healthcare, when you do see a primary healthcare professional, this care is covered under “obavezno”.

For secondary and emergency care, you pay 20% of services rendered which have minimum amounts of 25 - 100 HRK (€3.30-13.26) depending on whether you received outpatient or inpatient hospitalization care.

These payments can be reduced or removed altogether with the secondary “dopunsko” coverage which calls for another post in itself. For now, just be aware that “dopunsko” coverage costs an additional 45-75 HRK (€6-10) a month per person, and is offered by private insurers as well as HZZO.

Applying for HZZO

To apply for HZZO after your visa has been approved, you will need to download and fill in all necessary forms. As a 3^rd country national, the form you’re looking for is a T-2. If you face some uncertainties on how to proceed, do visit your nearest HZZO office for guidance.

Another heads-up is that the English version of the HZZO website only gives 10% of all information available on the Croatian site so it’s better if you visit the Croatian site and do a translation.

Private healthcare - Overview

What if you find yourself needing healthcare while waiting for your visa to be processed? Or if you find yourself in a situation where you need to see a specialist on short notice for a second opinion?

Unless you require urgent medical care (in this case head to the nearest hospital), your first port of call would be to seek out a poliklinika (polyclinic) which is a private clinic.

Most polyclinics house a general practitioner who will accommodate walk-ins or offer appointments likely within the same day or week. They are also able to issue and extend prescriptions for pre-existing medical conditions.

Depending on your ailment, there are also specialized polyclinics that offer a range of services (e.g. dermatologists, gynecologists, urologists). Some policlinics also offer blood work and preventative health screening (e.g. food intolerance, cancer screening).

Croatia also offers top-notch private specialists and hospitals, which is reflected in their growing medical tourism sector. There are also private dental clinics that offer high-quality dental care at competitive rates when compared to other EU countries.

Image: Pexels

Private healthcare - What will you pay for a visit?

While costs of private healthcare vary, here is a non-exhaustive list of procedures assembled from various sources to give you an idea of what you can expect to pay out of pocket. Depending on your private healthcare policy (e.g. Cigna), you may be able to cover some of these costs but do double-check with your insurance provider.

Sample costs for general healthcare and screening:

• Basic consultation (general practitioner): 200 HRK (€27)
• Ultrasound abdominal: 250 HRK (€33)
• Mole screening: 200 HRK (€27)
• Food sensitivity tests (220 types): 2,700 HRK (€358)
• Thyroid panel tests: 450 HRK (€60)
• Breast/prostate blood panel: 2,335 HRK (€310)
• MRI-head: 2,090 HRK (€277)
• CT-Spine (3 segments): 1,030 HRK (€136)

Sample costs for surgery:

• Artificial disk replacement 113,000 HRK (€15,000)
• Knee replacement: 56,900 HRK (€7,545)
• Hip replacement: 56,730 HRK (€7,525)
• Torn achilles tendon - repair: 18,860 HRK (€2,501)
• Tennis elbow: 14,720 HRK (€1,952)
• Cataract and glaucoma (cataract surgery): 11,000 (€1,460)

The estimates above typically include pre-and post-operative consultations, but do not account for long-term rehabilitative care, or possible hotel stays if you are traveling to a specific city to undergo surgery.

Image: Pexels

Sample costs for dentistry:

• Basic consultation: 200 HRK (€26)
• Descale and polish: 480 HRK (€64)
• Root canal treatment (per root): 500 HRK (€66)
• Zirconia-based crown: 2,300 HRK (€305)

Most private healthcare providers in Croatia expect cash payment upfront. In some cases, they will accept credit or debit cards, but call or drop them a message to confirm this. If you are a resident of Croatia, some clinics will allow you to pay in installments.

(€1 = 7.54 HRK)

For more news about Croatia, click here.

ZAGREB, 1 January 2022 2021 - Croatia entered 2021 at the peak of the COVID pandemic's second wave, and with high numbers of infections, hospital admissions, and deaths, while at the end of 2021 these numbers were several times higher.

Thus, of the total of 12,500 COVID-related deaths since the outbreak, over 8,000 persons have died in the past year.

According to data from the Croatian Institute of Public Health, in 2020 there were 4,478 COVID-related deaths, while in 2021 there were near twice as many, 8,407. About 80% of them were not vaccinated.

According to official data on the koronavirus.hr website, a total of 700,000 people in Croatia have contracted coronavirus, and the highest number of daily new cases was on 9 November, when 7,368 infections were registered.

Although the fourth wave of the pandemic is still ongoing, due to the emergence of the new Omicron variant of the virus, experts are announcing the possibility of another, fifth wave as early as the beginning of 2022. According to the latest data, 51 Omicron cases have been detected in Croatia so far.

With the arrival of the vaccine in January, mass vaccination began in Croatia, and Health Minister Vili Beroš said the goal was to inoculate 50% of the population by the summer. However, this percentage was not reached even by the end of the summer.

Two-thirds of adults vaccinated

By the end of 2021, about 55% of the total population was vaccinated, or 66% of the adult population, so Croatia is 30% behind countries with the highest vaccination rates.

Although interest in the vaccine was high among citizens at the beginning of the year, it gradually declined and inoculation nearly came to a halt in early summer. In the autumn, the interest rose again but not enough to significantly increase the immunization rate.

From jumping queue for vaccination to anti-vax protests

In a year, we went from people jumping the queue for vaccination at the very beginning, which caused public outrage and condemnation, to anti-vaccination protests, which became louder and bigger in the autumn, after mandatory COVID certificates had been introduced in the healthcare and social welfare systems and state and public institutions.

The culmination of the protests was in late November when an estimated 20,000 people gathered in Zagreb's Ban Jelačić Square, and after that threats were recorded, and even attacks of anti-vaxxers on doctors, which happened in Bjelovar.

By the end of 2021, about 4,7 million vaccine doses were administered in Croatia, 2.2 million people were vaccinated with two doses, and about half a million citizens received their third dose.

The COVID pandemic has further driven up the already huge costs of the healthcare system, and the treatment of COVID patients has so far cost Croatia about HRK 4 billion.

The hospital system has been adjusting to the epidemiological picture of coronavirus, which has meant delays in medical examinations, tests, and non-emergency procedures, which made it even more difficult for many citizens to access healthcare.

Due to huge debts, which reached HRK 6 billion, in March drug wholesalers restricted drug supplies to twenty hospitals with the largest debts for medicines and medicinal products.

The government and drug wholesalers then agreed that the debt would be repaid by the end of the year, but that did not stop new debts in the hospital system.

Although he has been announcing it, Minister Beroš still hasn't unveiled a proposal for health reform, which should streamline the system and reduce costs.

So far, there has been talking of some measures, such as a unified public procurement system, centralization of the hospital system, and consolidation of the institute of public health and emergency medicine.

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, 30 Dec 2021 - The government on Thursday adopted the National Healthcare Development Plan 2021-2027, which is aimed at ensuring a balanced geographical distribution and availability of health services and improving healthcare outcomes as a key national priority.

The plan provides for five special objectives - better living habits and effective disease prevention, improving the healthcare system, improving care for key healthcare challenges, improving the financial sustainability of the healthcare system, and making the healthcare system a desirable place of work.

Health Minister Vili Beroš said that this is an overarching sectoral planning document setting out goals, measures, projects, and activities that will be carried out under the ministry's auspices with the basic aim of improving the healthcare system and healthcare outcomes.

Also adopted was the Healthcare Development Action Plan 2021-2025. 

Minister Beroš was given the authority to sign an order for the purchase of additional optional COVID-19 vaccine doses in line with the purchase agreement between the European Commission and Pfizer Inc./BioNTech Manufacturing GmbH.

Beroš recalled that following a cabinet meeting of 3 September, an order was signed for the purchase of 8,2013,731 COVID-19 vaccine doses over the next two years and that based on the purchase agreement, the European Commission made it possible for Croatia to order an additional 500,000 doses for next year.

For more on politics, follow TCN's dedicated page.

ZAGREB, 15 Dec 2021 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković on Wednesday condemned in the strongest terms attacks and the invective against healthcare workers, underscoring that COVID certificates were not anything special or any kind of restriction, but a tool used across Europe.

"Insulting healthcare workers is inappropriate and unacceptable... instead of expressing gratitude to them for their commitment, we can see insults that deserve to be strongly condemned."

On Tuesday evening, Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković also deplored the aggressive behavior of some demonstrators at rallies against COVID certificates and vaccines.

Commenting on the latest COVID numbers in Croatia, PM Plenković said at the cabinet's meeting that although those numbers were falling, they were still high.

He reiterated his appeal for vaccination against coronavirus.

Pleković recalled that in the last two years, Croatia had implemented some of the easiest epidemiological restrictions in Europe, without long and strict lockdowns and curfews.

We conduct the struggle against the pandemic in the way we consider to be appropriate. Of course, we do not want to encroach on the human rights framework. The precondition for the protection of human rights is that citizens are well and alive, he said.

For more, check out our dedicated politics section.

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, 22 Nov 2021 - Croatia's social protection expenditure amounted to €11.2 billion last year, or slightly less than €3,000 per capita, which is a quarter of the country's GDP and around the European average, Večernji List daily said on Monday.

According to Eurostat's methodology, expenditure on social protection benefits includes allocations for the elderly, health care, persons with disabilities, family and children, war veterans, unemployment, social exclusion, and housing.

Slovenia allocated for social protection slightly more than Croatia - €11.6 billion. In the year of coronavirus, expenditure on social protection in Croatia rose by 5% on the year, which was the second most modest increase among EU member states, ahead of Sweden, which increased its social protection expenditure by 4%.

However, unlike Croatia, which provides about €3,000 per capita, Sweden provides €13,000. By comparison, Bulgaria sets aside about half as much as we do, while Hungary's expenditure on social protection is at about €2,500 per capita. Slovenia spends €5,500 per capita on social protection, the Czech Republic €4,300, and Poland €3,000.

Three European countries which spend the most on social protection per capita are Norway (€18,000), Denmark (nearly €17,000), and Austria (€14,000). They are followed by Germany (about €13,000), France (€12,000), Ireland (€11,000), and Italy (€9,000).

The highest amount of funds in all countries is spent on the elderly and health care. Measured as a percentage of GDP, social expenditure is the highest in France, where it amounts to nearly 36% of GDP, while in Croatia the expenditure is between 24% and 25% of GDP. Slovenia has a similar percentage, while social expenditure measured as a percentage of GDP is the lowest in Ireland, a mere 15%. In the year of coronavirus, Ireland increased its social protection budget by 20%, Germany and France by 7%, while Austria and Hungary increased it by 12%, Večernji List reported.

For more on politics, follow TCN's dedicated page.