October 27, 2022 - Croatian Health Minister Vili Beroš presented the long-awaited health system reform today, although all of the details have not been ironed out yet.

The people of Croatia have gotten used to each new health minister coming up with their own, personal version of health system reforms, while the system seems to be getting worse all the time. The new minister took surprisingly long to present his plan, which is understandable when we know the circumstances under which he took over the department.

Today, he made his plans for the reform public. The changes will be enacted through the changes of the basic laws that cover the area of health, which will happen in early November.

One of the goals of the reform is strengthening primary health care, which is currently not doing what it should be. It's not the doctors' fault, but it has to change. Primary health care must become the strongest tool in our fight against disease, Beroš pointed out. The goal must be to detect diseases early, so turning to prevention is a necessity, as well as the development of health literacy from an early age. Preventive systematic exams will be established, to help detect diseases as soon as possible. The pilot project will first be implemented in two counties at the beginning of 2023, and it is later expected to be rolled out at the national level.

The number of specializations in primary health care will increase, which will help overcome the shortage of doctors. Specialist health care is transferred to the primary level, in health centers. Specialists from hospitals will also work in health centers, for which they will be paid additionally. In order to solve this, additional work contracts will be concluded with the specialists, Beroš pointed out.

Among other plans, Beroš announced that the national preventive programs for malignant diseases will be revised, a preventive program for the early detection of melanoma will be introduced, and an emergency helicopter service should be established by 2024. He also gave details of the changes to the hospital system. There are too many hospitals per population in Croatia, he said, adding that it is important to introduce the categorization of health institutions and functionally integrate them. The Minister also highlighted the strategic infrastructure projects, among which the revitalization of the Institute of Immunology at a new location in Rugvica and the National Children's Hospital in Blato.

Krunoslav Capak, the director of the Croatian Public Health Institute, stressed that the emphasis of this health system reform is on the transition to prevention. Croatia has not made enough investments in prevention and now we have to treat the consequences of diseases, which costs a lot and burdens the health system, he said and added that most of these diseases could have been prevented by informing the public about health and by changing habits.

The health system reform is expected to last until 2030, in three phases.

ZAGREB, 28 July 2022 - Health Minister Vili Beroš said on Thursday that the experts form Croatia's COVID-19 crisis management team were making all the necessary preparations to ensure the country was ready to address new epidemiological challenges in the autumn.

"The expert group from the COVID-19 crisis management team is analysing the current situation and possible scenarios in Croatia and in the European Union and is planning further steps in the preparation of the health care system and the implementation of the vaccination scheme against COVID-19," Beroš tweeted.

Croatia has been experiencing a new wave of highly infectious subvariants of coronavirus that have increased the share of positive cases among those tested to as much as 30%, with the daily number of new infections exceeding 1,000, the Croatian Public Health Institute (HZJZ) has said. 

Omicron subvariants BA.2, BA.4 and BA.5 are currently in circulation in Croatia, mostly affecting people aged 30-69 while children are less affected given the current school vacation, HZJZ officials have told Hina.

The new wave of the epidemic in Croatia started in late June, when the share of positive cases in the number of tested persons started to rise.

The largest number of new infections has been reported in the City of Zagreb and in Split-Dalmatia and Primorje-Gorski Kotar counties, while Virovitica-Podravina County has the most favourable situation, with only three new cases having been reported.

For more, check out our politics section.

February 18, 2022 - A recent research seeking to determine the quality of the childbirth experience during the pandemic in several European countries has exposed maternity hospitals in Croatia, and for all the wrong reasons.

The prestigious journal The Lancet Regional Health Europe published this month a scientific paper entitled Quality of health care for mothers and newborns in maternity hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic: an online survey of mothers' perspectives in 12 WHO countries.

The fact that the research was featured on the cover of this scientific journal speaks of its importance on the experience of health care for pregnant women, mothers, and midwives during the pandemic, as well as the quality of investigation and conclusions.

The study included a total of 21,027 women who gave birth in the first year of the pandemic, from March 1, 2020 to March 15, 2021 in twelve countries of the WHO European Region.

The online questionnaire is based on the WHO Standards for Quality of Maternal and Neonatal Care (QMNC) and is organized in four areas: Care Provision, Care Experience, Availability of Staff and Human Resources, and the Impact of COVID- 19 on the provision of care. Based on the results in each area, an overall ranking of responses for that area (0-100) and an overall score (0-400) was formed.

The results indicate huge differences in the quality of care for women and newborns. Unfortunately, Croatia is in the penultimate place on the list of 12 countries. At the top of the scale are Luxembourg (355), Spain (345) and Germany (335) and at the bottom are Romania (275), Croatia (270) and Serbia (205).

Maternity hospitals in Croatia were rated best in the areas of care (80 out of a possible 100) and in the assessment of changes related to COVID (70 out of a possible 100), while the experience in care (65 out of a possible 100) and the availability of staff and human resources were rated worse (55 out of 100), reports Novi list.

In collaboration with the leaders of the scientific project Imagine EURO, Trieste Burlo Garofolo Institute, the project was worked on in Croatia by the head of the Reproductive Rights Program at the Roda Association, Daniela Drandić, M.Sc.

"This research once again pointed out all the problems in health care for pregnant women, mothers, and midwives, which Roda has been warning the competent institutions and the public about since the beginning of the pandemic. The only question is whether the competent institutions will direct their efforts towards solving these problems", warned the Roda Association.

"Once again, we have seen that, despite the constant talk about demography, when it comes to changes in the health care system, women and children are simply not a priority.", they added.

Several more scientific studies will be published as part of this research project, including work measuring the experiences of health professionals in the pandemic. "Over 3,000 health professionals from Europe have already participated in the research on the experiences of health professionals in maternity hospitals during the pandemic, and we call on those from maternity hospitals in Croatia to do the same; the survey questionnaire is open to all health professionals working in maternity hospitals.

In addition, we continue to invite women who gave birth in the hospital during the pandemic to participate in the research that is still ongoing; namely, we want to investigate the experiences of women throughout the pandemic''.

Source: Slobodna Dalmacija

For more, check out our lifestyle section.

January 12th, 2022 - Those who have left Croatia but keep using Croatian public healthcare at the expense of the state will soon be removed from the HZZO database

As many as 300.000 Croatians could soon have their public health insurance policies cancelled by the Croatian Health Insurance Fund (HZZO), reports Novi list. Namely, Health Minister Vili Beroš has announced that the HZZO would be cancelling the policies of those insured whose residency or employment status does not grant them the right to free health coverage anymore.

Most of that list consists of citizens who emigrated in the last decade and now work and reside abroad, but retain their Croatian public health insurance at the expense of the state on the basis of being unemployed in Croatia.

A large number of such policyholders prefer to use the services of GPs or dentists when they visit Croatia, as they find it much more affordable than the equivalent service in the country they currently reside in. It’s estimated that two thirds of Croatian emigrants avail of their health insurance benefits in such a manner.

The HZZO states that a considerably large number of people benefit from the rights guaranteed by their public health insurance despite not paying the compulsory insurance contributions. The exact number could become known in a month’s time, once HZZO and the Croatian Employment Service (HZZ) have merged their databases.

All citizens who are not on file with the HZZ, but avail of the free compulsory health insurance on the basis of their unemployment status, will have their health insurance policies cancelled, as well as their dependents.

According to the director of the HZZO Lucian Vukelić, those citizens who are not registered with the HZZ as unemployed persons could lose their free health insurance policies as early as in February 2022, once the two institutions have signed the data exchange agreement.

In recent years, many Croatian citizens have left their homeland in search of work; while the number of HZZ applicants dropped significantly as a result, they mostly remained on file with the HZZO and held onto their free health insurance.

A number of Croatian emigrants were removed from the HZZO database in the summer of 2021, after a data exchange with the Ministry of the Interior showed which citizens had cancelled their residency in Croatia.

According to the HZZO, at present it’s nearly impossible to find out which Croatian citizens work in other countries where they also pay their health insurance contributions and where they should thus avail of public healthcare as well. Even though it’s illegal to have public health insurance in two countries simultaneously, there still doesn’t exist a unified EU database that would reflect where citizens have contributory health insurance and use public health services.

‘Considering that there’s a bunch of different insurance providers in most countries, it’s impossible to obtain the data. You would have to search all over Europe for each policyholder individually to find out if they’re insured in a certain country. It so happens that no one in Croatia ever cancels their health insurance; [employers in] most EU countries are obligated to insure their workers upon employment, and so we end up with an enormous number of people who work abroad and are insured in Germany, Austria or Norway, whereas in Croatia their public health insurance remains covered by the national budget’, said Vukelić.

The HZZO does not have the exact figures regarding potential savings for the national budget if Croatians who are not factually unemployed were removed from the HZZO’s list of unemployed policyholders.

However, if we were to consider the 300.000 people in question, based on the health contribution rate of 16.5% of a monthly gross salary of e.g. HRK 5,000, the state is HRK 2,7 billion out of pocket each year. This does not even take into account the annual costs of health services in Croatia that such policyholders avail of.

The HZZO will also look to cancel the policies of Croatian citizens who have not left the country, but use the benefits provided by their health coverage even though they are not paying the contributions.

An example of this are undeclared workers who neither pay for the coverage nor are they on file with the HZZ, but retain their free health insurance. Such persons will need to register with the HZZ and find legal work, i.e. pay the relevant taxes and contributions.

https://www.novilist.hr/novosti/hrvatska/hzzo-cisti-evidenciju-besplatno-osiguranje-moglo-bi-izgubiti-300-000-ljudi-radi-se-mahom-o-iseljenicima/
Ljerka Bratonja Martinović

ZAGREB, 6 Oct, 2021 - Croatia registered 1,925 new cases of the novel coronavirus in the past 24 hours while 18 people died as a consequence, and there are currently 8,813 active cases in the country, the national COVID response team reported on Wednesday.

There are 820 hospitalised patients and 116 are on ventilators, while 16,186 people are self-isolating.

To date, 411,917 cases of contagion have been registered and 8,722 people have died, while 394,382 people have recovered. A total of 2,874,479 tests have been conducted, including 10,083 in the past 24 hours.

54.31% of the adult population vaccinated

As of Tuesday, 3,460,702 doses of vaccines had been administered, and 45.28% of the total population or 54.31% of the adult population had received at least one dose of a vaccine.

Yesterday, 8,144 people were vaccinated, of whom 5,073 received the first dose.

A total of 1,837,585 people have received at least one dose of a vaccine, while 1,721,731 have been fully vaccinated, which makes up 50.97% of the adult population.

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

ZAGREB, 5 Oct, 2021 - Varaždin County's department of emergency medicine on Tuesday was provided with three new vehicles for non-emergency patient transport, and this procurement was worth about a million kuna (€133,000).

During the vehicle takeover ceremony, County Prefect Anđelko Stričak said that emergency medicine, fire-fighters, the police, the army, the civil protection units and mountain rescue service were the essential elements of homeland security.

Stričak said that the county's department of emergency medicine had 41 vans in its fleet, and 32 of those vehicles were for non-emergency medical transport while nine were ambulances.

Annually, 65,000 patients use the services of this transport, and the vehicles in this department's fleet cover 1.3 million kilometres. The department registers about 10,500 emergency interventions and cover some 230,000 kilometres during the provision of urgent medical aid.

For more about health in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

October 2, 2021 - With every third child having a weight problem, the study finds that the sheer amount of overweight Croatian children is a legitimate concern.

The Dalmatian meat specialty of Pašticada, Zagorje's Štrukli, spicy Slavonian sausages called Kulen... the list goes on and these are just some of the delicious foods Croats traditionally eat. But even outside of tradition, there are loads of contemporary food restaurants, foreign food options (Chinese, Mexican, Arab, Greek and more), not to mention many fast-food chains and even more bakeries. Basically, there's no need to worry about starving in Croatia. And that may also turn into a problem.

As Srednja.hr writes, every third child in Croatia is overweight, meaning there is now a serious concern about overweight Croatian children which needs to be tackled.

This fact was discovered during the ''European Initiative for monitoring childhood obesity in Croatia 2018/2019'' (CroCOSI), conducted by the European Office of the World Health Organisation. It's interesting to note that the research leader for Croatia was none other than Sanja Musić Milanović, the wife of the current Croatian president, Zoran Milanović.

The results of the research were presented last week at the Croatian Public Health Institute (HZJZ). ''Around 35% of Croatian children aged 8 to 9 are overweight, and only 14% of parents are aware of that,'' writes Srednja.hr.

Looking at different regions, the lowest amount of overweight Croatian children can be found in Zagreb (29.7%). While continental Croatia has a higher percentage (36.0%), the Adriatic region holds a record-breaking number, reaching almost 37%.

Gender-wise, Croatian boys have more weight issues than girls do (17.8% / 11.9%).

While this isn't too much of a drastic rise when compared to the research from 2015/2016 (the total percentage was 34.9%), being overweight remains a big problem for Croatia which can lead to serious health risks sooner or later. These issues go deeper than personal health but also result in more pressure being placed on an already burdened healthcare system.

What's interesting, is that this weight problem is more of an issue in rural areas than it is in urban ones, even though you'd think it should be the other way around as rural areas are more in touch with nature and offer more possibilities for recreation. However, urban areas, as a study suggests, have better prevention programmes which advocate for healthy habits and lifestyles.

Additionally, the fact that only 14% of parents are aware that their child has a weight problem also shows problems in understanding of what a good diet actually is among Croats.

''The Health Ministry has recognised the weight issue as a priority area and has started with preparations for making a prevention plan for it. I believe that with the implementation of this action plan, we'll contribute in stopping this negative trend rising on a national level in the years to come,'' commented Health Minister Vili Beroš.

The problem of overweight children and fat-shaming has recently been recognised among Croatian pupils. As TCN wrote, pupils in schools are no longer measured publicly but privately. However, the combat against unhealthy habits among Croatian children for a healthier, more knowledgeable generation is still underway.

Learn more about Croatian food in our TC guide.

 For more about health in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

ZAGREB, 29 Sept, 2021 - Croatia has registered 1,911 new coronavirus cases and 14 COVID-19-related deaths in the last 24 hours, the national coronavirus response team reported on Wednesday.

The number of active cases now stands at 8,101, and 745 infected persons are receiving hospital treatment, including 99 who are on ventilators.

Since 25 February 2020, when the first case was confirmed in Croatia, 403,080 people have been registered as having contracted the novel virus, of whom 8,628 have died and 386,351 have recovered, including 896 in the last 24 hours. 21,164 people are currently self-isolating.

To date, 2,813,356 people have been tested for the virus, including 10,148 in the last 24 hours.

A total of 3,419,381 doses of vaccines have been administered, with 44.66 percent of the total population, or 53.59 percent of adults, having been vaccinated. 1,812,532 people have received at least one dose and 1,700,089 have been fully vaccinated (1,606,849 people have received two vaccine doses and 93,240 have received the single-dose Jannsen vaccine), which makes up 50.34 percent of the adult population.

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

ZAGREB, 28 Sept, 2021 - Compared to other countries, Croatia fares poorly in terms of access to legal and safe abortion, a Croatian member of the European Parliament, Social Democrat Predrag Matić, said on the occasion of International Safe Abortion Day and the presentation of the Abortion Atlas.

"The Abortion Atlas is a new tool that gives an overview of countries according to the availability of abortion, and more importantly, the kind of obstacles women across Europe encounter in terms of access to abortion. Croatia is in the lower section of the ladder in that regard, with the situation considered as poor. Even though abortion in Croatia is legal, we have a problem with practical obstacles to access to abortion," Matić said, as quoted by his office.

The Abortion Atlas, authored by the European Parliamentary Forum for Sexual and Reproductive Rights and the International Planned Parenthood Federation, is the first comprehensive interactive map with data on access to abortion in Europe.

It ranks 52 countries in terms of their legislative frameworks, access and availability of abortion, abortion-related medical care and available public information on abortion.

Croatia is in the lower part of the ranking, with a score of 60%, and it belongs among countries with a poor rating concerning legal and safe abortion. Of the EU member-countries, the best-ranked are Sweden and the Netherlands while Malta and Poland are worst-ranked.

"Access to abortion in the EU has been prevented due to a number of administrative and imposed medical obstacles and conditions such as compulsory counselling, compulsory additional medical tests and a compulsory waiting period," said Matić, a member of the EP's Women's Rights and Gender Equality Committee and author of an EP resolution on the state of sexual and reproductive health and rights in the EU.

The obstacles are unjustified and most citizens advocate access to abortion, Matić said, citing the latest survey on the topic in Croatia, in which 81% of the respondents supported the right to abortion while as many as 63% said that pregnancy termination must be free of charge, which makes abortion truly available regardless of one's geographical and socioeconomic status, Matić's office said.

Matić also recalled an extremely dangerous trend among gynecologists in Croatia, with 186 or 60% of the 322 gynecologists employed in hospitals across the country refusing to perform abortion.

For more about politics in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

ZAGREB, 28 Sept, 2021 - The Croatian Chamber of Nurses (HKMS) has distanced itself from unscientific and unprofessional views on vaccination against COVID-19, spread by some of the nurses.

"A large number of nurses have been vaccinated, notably 72 percent of them, and the Chamber once again calls on all nurses to get vaccinated and thus protect their health and the health of their patients," the HKMS said in a statement on Tuesday.

The dissemination of untrue and scientifically uncorroborated information, especially when it comes from nurses, makes the fight against the epidemic and efforts to increase the vaccination rate difficult and undermines trust in the healthcare system, it added.

The HKMS stressed the importance of vaccination as the only effective way to overcome the epidemic and get life back to normal.

Many of our nurse colleagues treat hospitalised patients for serious forms of COVID-19 and many of them see their patients, most of whom have not been vaccinated, die, the HKMS said, reminding nurses that "nursing is a medical profession and our public discourse must be based on the results of medical science."

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