ZAGREB, 6 June, 2021 - The clinical hospital Dubrava in the eastern part of the Croatian capital city, which was repurposed into the main hospital for treating COVID patients in the country during the pandemic, will resume its regular services as of Monday.

Doctor Jurica Maraković of the KB Dubrava hospital told the national broadcaster (HRT) on Sunday, that after treating only COVID patients for 217 days, the hospital would get back to its usual business as of Monday.

KB Dubrava's inpatient units and outpatient clinics are supposed to reopen their doors to patients.

Appointments for 300 non-COVID patients have been scheduled to Monday only.

Also, the hospital continues treating COVID patients and currently there are 110 patients hospitalised there. Of them 23 are placed on ventilators.

The reopening of all departments of the KB Dubrava ensues after Croatia started registering a decline in new coronavirus numbers and improvement in the epidemiological situation.

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ZAGREB, Dec 27, 2020 - A physician and a nurse working in the intensive care unit of Zagreb's Dubrava hospital, converted into the central hospital treating COVID-19 patients in Croatia, got vaccinated against the disease on Sunday.

The vaccination was attended by Health Minister Vili Beros.

Thirty-five employees of the hospital will get immunised today and a total of 200 doctors and nurses working at the hospital will be vaccinated in the next two days.

Acting hospital director Ivica Luksic said that today was a big day, encouraging in many ways.

"The KB Dubrava hospital and all its employees have been on the front line of the battle against the pandemic from the very first day and for all of us this is a new beginning in the treatment of this disease," he said.

Minister: We will reward KB Dubrava for selfless work done

Minister Beros underlined the role of the KB Dubrava hospital, which has been the most important centre in the country for the treatment of COVID-19 patients since March.

"More than 450 people are treated and 69 receive respiratory support on a daily basis at Dubrava. I learned this morning that 360,000 litres of liquid oxygen is spent an hour in the treatment of our patients. We could not have created such conditions in any other Zagreb hospital," Beros said, adding that if possible, the government would compensate the hospital and all its employees for their selfless work.

"We will consider expansion to include new, research elements and new services. Once this epidemic is over, that will be a sign of gratefulness to all Dubrava hospital employees," said the minister.

Beros said the number of infections in the past two days was small but that fewer tests were performed, noting that it was encouraging that the number of new infections had been declining in the past two weeks.

He said that the number of new hospital admissions today was higher than on Saturday but that there were fewer patients on ventilators than yesterday.

"The number of fatalities is the result of developments in the last 2-3 weeks. That number is expected to start going down in a week and a half because the mortality rate will start following the trend in the number of new infections," said the minister.

ZAGREB, November 7, 2020 - A section of the second floor of Zagreb's Dubrava Clinical Hospital where no patients are accommodated was left without electricity for about an hour and a half of Saturday after the switch cabinet was believed to have been damaged on purpose, the hospital's acting director Ivica Luksic said, adding that the police have been informed.

"This is no accident, because smashing the cabinet door and heavily damaging the massive electric switch requires intent, time and some heavy-duty tools. In short, this can be considered intentional damage, and I hope the police will establish the facts and identify those responsible," Luksic said in a statement.

Luksic said that security had been stepped up following a similar power outage at the hospital on November 1. He said he had informed Health Minister Vili Beros and the chairman of the hospital's governing board and state secretary at the Health Ministry, Silvio Basic, of the latest incident.

The neurosurgery team at Dubrava Clinical Hospital has achieved another success. A 10-year-old Croatian boy from Dalmatia, who was paralyzed due to a rare disease, has received a deep brain stimulator implant. Just three months after surgery, the boy is walking.

After a five-year search, the parents of the 10-year-old boy finally learned about his diagnosis. A rare disease, dystonia, is a condition in which the brain has no control over muscular activity and was the cause of all their son's problems. They sought help from Professor Chudy at KB Dubrava (Dubrava Clinical Hospital), according to Ruža Ištuk/Dnevnik/HRT on January 8, 2020.

Their son underwent surgery three months ago, and they say that the results are amazing. The boy is speaking more clearly, sits without help, can control his movements and walk.

“I feel wonderful. It's like a new birthday for me. I don't know how to describe the feeling as a parent. It's a big deal to have a child who has a (medical) problem, and then everything gets better. It’s phenomenal, said the boy's parent.

Professor Darko Chudy, head of the Department of Neurosurgery at KB Dubrava, said he expects the boy to become independent and to have the same life opportunities as other boys.

"This stimulator works like a trigger which enables muscles to follow orders," Chudy explained.

“There’s no better feeling. It motivates you to keep going and become even better at what we do so that our patients are happy and satisfied, said Fadi Almahariq, neurosurgeon at KB Dubrava.

Veronica Paradžhik, the boy's physical therapist, is also delighted as the improvements are becoming increasingly visible.

"It was only after the stimulator was installed that physical therapy sessions began to show results," Paradžhik revealed.

The boy is now undergoing spa therapy and his condition is expected to further improve.

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