ZAGREB, 12 April (Hina) - The Zagreb School of Medicine said on Monday that Croatia was finally represented in the European Advanced Translational Research Infrastructure in Medicine (EATRIS), which will give it faster access to new medicines, diagnostic tests and vaccines.

EATRIS's aim is the accelerated transfer of fundamental discoveries into clinical practice to improve healthcare and the transfer of know-how from clinical practice into the development of medicines, diagnostics and medical products, the school said in a press release.

Croatian scientific institutions will now be included in the development of new diagnostic tests, innovative drugs and advanced vaccines, which will benefit the academic community as well as Croatia's economy and society.

The press release underlined the Science and Education Ministry's support in achieving representation in EATRIS and that Croatian representatives are already sitting in EATRIS bodies.

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ZAGREB, July 22, 2020 - By the end of July HRK 500 million from the treasury will be paid to hospitals to settle their debt to wholesale drug suppliers, it was agreed on Wednesday by representatives of the government and suppliers, who said this payment should keep hospitals supplied with drugs until autumn.

Government and wholesale drug suppliers' representatives met at the Health Ministry to continue negotiations on hospitals' debt to suppliers, which exceeds HRK 4.2 billion and which has prompted suppliers to say that they will stop delivering drugs and operating supplies.

Although suppliers demanded an urgent payment of HRK 1 billion to make it through the summer, today it was agreed that they would get half of that.

"This will enable us to pay for the drugs which we currently don't have and ensure their delivery until autumn," supplier representative Diana Percac said.

Finance Minister Zdravko Maric said the agreement was that his ministry would find the money and pay it from the treasury to the Croatian Health Insurance Fund by the end of this month, and that the Health Ministry would find a way to transfer the money to hospitals.

Health Minister Vili Beros said the negotiations would continue in the autumn to find a long term solution to settle the debt to wholesale drug suppliers.

(€1 = HRK 7.5)