ZAGREB, 22 March, 2021 - COVID wards at 29 hospitals have been equipped with 169 new-generation ventilators valued at a total of HRK 38 million and intended for use in patients of all ages, the Health Ministry said on Monday.

The ministry participated in a joint procurement process through the European Commission and secured 169 ventilators from one of the world's most renown producers of medical equipment, GE HealthCare.

The ventilators are intended for use for patients of all ages from newborn babies to adults and can be administered invasively or non-invasively via masks, the ministry said in a press release.

These new-generation ventilators assist doctors in adapting ventilation parameters as well as measuring caloric use which ensures better nutritional support for patients, hence their speedier recovery.

Ventilators could not have arrived at a better time

Health Minister Vili Beroš underlined that the ventilators could not have arrived at a better time considering the increased number of new coronavirus cases, hospitalised patients and those requiring ventilators particularly younger patients suffering for chronic diseases.

Beroš is convinced that the ventilators will contribute to reducing the number of fatal outcomes and provide a quality support to health workers on the front line in the fight against coronavirus.

Beroš thanked the European Commission and government for the support on the road to an even stronger and more effective health system in Croatia.

ZAGREB, 15 March 2021 - The Rijeka Clinical Hospital Centre on Monday received 12 new ventilators that were procured by the Health Ministry with the use of EU funds.

The hospital's director, Alen Ružić, thanked the ministry, government and European Commission for the valuable equipment, underscoring that it would significantly improve working conditions at the hospital and contribute to better patient care as well as improving the quality of treatment.

The ventilators will be put to use immediately in various wards at the hospital but primarily to relieve the work of the respiratory centre with COVID-19 patients, in ICU, and at neurology and pediatric wards. The hospital now has about 60 ventilators which are sufficient to cover the current number of patients.

Health Ministry State-Secretary Željko Plazonić, who chairs the KBC Rijeka steering board, said the ventilators were obtained through a procurement process conducted by the European Commission. They are part of a contingent of 169 ventilators procured for COVID-19 wards in health institutions throughout Croatia. The price of each ventilator is €24,000, Plazonić added.

Answering reporters' questions, Ružić said that due to the new wave of COVID-19 the hospital's level of preparedness had been increased and if need be it would be prepared to open a new COVID ward that would be separated from other wards. He added that due to the increased number of COVID-19 patients, the number of other non-urgent surgical procedures would be partially reduced.

ZAGREB, 10 March, 2021 - In the last seven days, new coronavirus infections in Croatia rose by 25% compared to the week before that, and the existing anti-epidemic measures will be extended even after 15 March, the country's COVID-19 crisis management team said at a news conference in Zagreb on Wednesday.

The team's chairman, Interior Minister Davor Božinović, said that he hoped that the restrictions would not have to be ramped up.

The numbers are growing, however, there are not any particular hotspots, he added.

Croatia's coronavirus update: 962 new cases, 4 deaths, 334 recoveries

In the past 24 hours there were 7,499 coronavirus tests conducted, and 12.8% of them, that is 962, have returned positive. The death toll linked to COVID-19 has increased by four more fatalities to 5,625.

Currently, there are 3,981 active cases, including 807 hospitalised patients 82 of whom are placed on ventilators.

Since the first registered case of the coronavirus infection in the country on 25 February 2020, more than 1.4 million tests have been conducted, and 248,061 of them have turned out positive. To date, 238,455 people have recovered from this infectious disease.

Weekly rise of 25% ascribed to private gatherings

The head of the Croatian Institute of Public Health (HZJZ), Krunoslav Capak, said that a weekly rise of 25% was mainly due to family and private gatherings.

He added that 429 samples of 1,200 sent from Croatia to the European Centre for Disease Control had to date been sequenced, showing that 123 samples contained the British variant of the novel virus and 115 with the Czech variant. More results are expected next week.

50% of Croatian population may be immune to virus by this summer

A serological research carried out by the HZJZ covering 436 samples of people who caught coronavirus in the second wave of the pandemic has shown that 25% of them, that is one on four, have antibodies, Capak said.

The continuation of inoculation at the predicted rate could enable Croatia to have at least half of its population immune to coronavirus by this summer, according to his estimates.

Health Minister Vili Beroš announced a shipment of another 743,376 doses of COVID vaccines by the end of this month.

He expects the immunisation of one-fifth of the population with the first shot of the two-dose vaccine during this month.

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January 5, 2021 – Health Minister Vili Beroš stated that an older woman in Cakovec died of a heart attack the day after receiving the coronavirus vaccine. Beroš said she was negative for coronavirus and her death had nothing to do with the vaccine.

At today's press conference of the National Civil Protection Headquarters, Health Minister Vili Beroš said that an 82-year-old woman from a nursing home in Čakovec died on December 28, 2020, after receiving a coronavirus vaccine the day before. He explained the whole situation.

"After the vaccination on December 27, 2020 between 2 and 4 pm, the lady was checked and was in good condition. The next morning, on December 28, the epidemiologist checked her condition through the head nurse at the nursing home, which was also good. Sometime around 5 pm that day, the lady's clinical condition worsened. An ambulance was called, but the woman died an hour later in the nursing home," said Beroš.

According to the autopsy findings, the patient was negative for coronavirus. She died of cardiac decompensation, i.e., heart failure. The patient was a chronic patient. She had asthma and a probe, a tube that is inserted through the nose for feeding. The patient was lying down and could not walk.

Due to her health condition, especially asthma, the epidemiologist estimated that the person needed to be vaccinated, and she died of a heart attack a day later.

"The Commission in the Ministry of Health has not proven that the cause of death was related to vaccination. Suppose our most vulnerable people are vaccinated, which will sometimes mean patients with high comorbidity. In that case, it is always possible (as has already happened in the world and some neighboring countries) that someone will die without it being related to vaccination," Beroš said.

This event has been reported to the Agency for Medicines and Medical Devices HALMED, as a potential suspicious side effect and will be further evaluated. However, the Commission at the Ministry of Health considers that the patient's death is not related to the coronavirus vaccination.

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ZAGREB, Dec 11, 2020 - The Health Ministry plans to advertise the call for bids for medical helicopters on 10 March 2021 so that it will establish air ambulance services by the beginning of the next summer, the Vecernji List daily reported on Friday.

The establishment of the air ambulance services the acronym of which in Croatian is HHMS will be on 1 July, and the HHMS will have four bases: in Zagreb, Rijeka, Split and Osijek.

The project is estimated at 18 million euros, and the contract for that purpose will be signed with the provider of of medical helicopters for next three years.

HHMS medical transport will be made available around the clock. The cost will be estimated based on 4,500 hours of flights.

The bidders are expected to provide the ministry with the appropriate medical helicopters and pilots, whereas the ministry will assign the medical staff, that is doctors, nurses and technicians for this service.

Helicopters are expected to have the state-of-the-art equipment, no older than two years.

ZAGREB, November 22, 2020 - Health Minister Vili Beros, who is isolating at home because he has coronavirus, said on Saturday the situation with the number of infections and related deaths was alarming and announced that he would talk with county heads on Tuesday.

Speaking for RTL television via video link, he again called for people to be more responsible.

"Tuesday is an important day, when all of us at national level will once again talk with prefects, which will be an opportunity for the national, local and regional governments to hold constructive talks and assess all problems."

Asked if that meant they would discuss new restrictions, Beros said every opportunity was good for talks.

He said many were criticising the national COVID response team's measures, but added that many in the world claimed that milder restrictions would be effective if people complied with them.

"We can impose stricter measures, but if people won't wear masks and (if they) socialise at private gatherings... Everything is an opportunity to show responsibility."

Asked if it was realistic for a vaccine to be in Croatia by Christmas, Beros said, "We joined early enough all European initiatives for procuring vaccines from various manufacturers. As a state, we have done everything. Now it's all up to the manufacturers."

ZAGREB, November 20, 2020 - Regional Development and EU Funds Minister Natasa Tramisak on Friday presented contracts on EU funds worth HRK 73 million for new healthcare projects to Zagreb's Dr Fran Mihaljevic Hospital for Infectious Diseases and the Health Ministry.

"The coronavirus pandemic has raised awareness of the need to invest more in the health system, in Croatia and the EU alike. We are therefore using all available money from European structural and investment funds," Tramisak said at the contract-awarding ceremony.

She said the contracts would help the hospital continue boosting its capacity and procuring new equipment as well as the Health Ministry buy the necessary equipment, such as a linear accelerator for the KBC Rebro hospital.

Tramisak said projects worth more than 3 billion kuna had been agreed for the health system, with 2.7 billion being grants.

The latest contracts are valued at more than HRK 73 million, and almost 100% of the contract value are grants.

The minister said that apart from a HRK 369 million contract signed last week for the procurement of protective equipment, her ministry had asked the EU Solidarity Fund for an additional €39 million if the procurement of additional equipment should prove to be necessary.

The contract for the Health Ministry is worth HRK 23.7 million and will be entirely financed with EU funds.

The contract for the Dr Fran Mihaljevic hospital is worth HRK 50 million, and EU grants amount to HRK 49.6 million. The funding will help adapt part of the hospital infrastructure and almost half of the funds will be used to buy valuable diagnostic equipment, the hospital's director, Alemka Markotic, said.

ZAGREB, July 2, 2020 - The Health Ministry's State Secretary Tomislav Dulibic informed the government on Thursday that there were a few cases of tourists diagnosed with COVID-19 in Pula and Zadar, and that they had been provided with epidemiological treatment, which was why there was no further spread of the virus.

"When it comes to tourists, there are a few cases of (coronavirus) infections in Pula and Zadar, they have been treated epidemiologically, and this is a negligible number taking into consideration the total number of visitors," Dulibic said.

In Croatia, in the past 24 hours, 81 out of 981 tests performed for COVID-19 have returned positive. Also, there have been two deaths in connection with the infection.

The active hotspots of the infection are the eastern town of Djakovo where the infection was imported from Kosovo and Zagreb where 48 newly infected persons have been in connection with the infection in night clubs.