ZAGREB, 8 May 2022 - Zagreb Mayor Tomislav Tomašević said on Sunday it was unacceptable that all doctors and nurses at the Gynaecology Department of the Sveti Duh Hospital were conscientious objectors and that he expected the hospital's new management to deal with this.

"It is unacceptable to me that absolutely all the doctors and nurses in Gynaecology have conscientious objection and I expect this to be dealt with," Tomašević told reporters ahead of a ceremony marking the Day of Victory over Fascism and the Day of Liberation of Zagreb.

Asked if he agreed with the claim that in the circumstances of collective conscientious objection pregnancy terminations were carried out in private institutions, the mayor said that this problem could be dealt with in different ways.

"But I also want that all legally permitted pregnancy terminations can be performed in Zagreb's largest city-owned healthcare institution and that is Sveti Duh," Tomašević said.

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ZAGREB, 8 Nov, 2021 - As COVID hospitalisation numbers are increasing, Zagreb hospitals are expanding their COVID capacities while reducing services that are not essential.

The director of the Sisters of Mercy Hospital in Zagreb, Davor Vagić, told Hina that the hospital is expanding its COVID ward by an extra 12 beds plus eight more intensive care units.

There are currently 60 COVID patients at the hospital and together with the emergency ward, there will be about 100 beds available for patients.

He added that non-essential treatment would be reduced by 25%.

Vagić said that about 550 employees at the hospital had received a third dose of vaccine and immunisation would continue at the the same pace.

The KBC Hospital in Zagreb will also increase its COVID capacities from 113 to 129 and currently there are 108 COVID patients at that university hospital, 17 of whom are on ventilators, the hospital's assistant director Milivoj Novak said.

The Dubrava hospital currently has 135 hospitalised COVID patients and 21 are in ICU and they are all on ventilators.

A Health Ministry task force has recommended that all hospitals expand their COVID capacities.

The Zagreb-based Sveti Duh hospital is currently caring for about 30 COVID patients.

The hospital's head, Mladen Bušić, told Hina that elective surgeries had been reduced to some extent due to acute treatment of COVID-19.

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December 14, 2020 – Zagreb's Clinical Hospital Sveti Duh is the only one in this part of Europe to use gene therapy to treat recently incurable hereditary eye diseases that cause vision loss, ranking Croatia among only six countries in the world that use this therapy in ophthalmology.

As Hina reports, Zagreb's Sveti Duh Clinical Hospital, which became a collaborating center of the World Health Organization last year, is the first regional Center of Excellence for implementing gene therapy for hereditary retinal dystrophies. Patients from about 15 countries, of which more than a third are countries within the European Union, will gravitate to it.

Sixth in the world to apply this method

The final diagnosis, in which this treatment method gives incredible results until recently, is done based on genetic testing, and the first patients received therapy this summer.

Thanks to this well-deserved status of a certified Center of Excellence, Clinical Hospital Sveti Duh positioned the Republic of Croatia as the first country in Eastern and Southeastern Europe to apply this innovative method of treating a hereditary disease that causes blindness. Croatia is also the sixth country in the world (after the USA, Great Britain, Germany, France, and Israel) to do so.

The gene therapy treatment procedure is performed exclusively in certified centers of excellence that must meet all clinical, scientific, technological, and personnel requirements determined by strict and scientifically based regulations of the European Union and the EMA.

"Thanks to this certificate and the decision of the Croatian Health Insurance Institute to cover all treatment costs, patients in Croatia are enabled to treat hereditary retinal dystrophies, for which there was no medical solution until recently. These are pigmented retinopathy and Leber's congenital amaurosis, a very rare eye disease caused by a mutation in the RPE65 gene, which results in certain blindness already in the first years of life, and at the latest in the fourth decade. With such patients, timely application of available gene therapy stops the progression of the disease and can lead to a significant improvement in eyesight," explained prof. Dr. sc. Mladen Bušić, the Clinical Hospital Sveti Duh director.

Lifelong effect

Dr. Bušić points out that their patients subjectively notice easier coping in low light conditions. It also makes them feel that the space in which they move is brighter and better lit.

"From a clinical point of view, their subjective impression was confirmed through our tests, by improving visual acuity in low light conditions, improving contrast vision, and expanding the visual field. All of the above allows them to navigate and move in space, and we believe this effect is lifelong," dr. Bušić pointed out.

This achievement is an additional recognition to the Clinical Hospital Sveti Duh, which confirms the highest professional standards of the Clinical Center of Excellence, this time for the application of an extremely demanding and sophisticated therapeutic procedure.

Costs fully covered

A mutation in one of over 260 different genes causes hereditary retinal dystrophies, so it is crucial to diagnose it in time through genetic testing.

It is estimated that up to 1,000 people in Croatia suffer from hereditary retinal dystrophies. Thus, genetic testing of patients is necessary to identify those in whom an innovative therapeutic solution can be applied.

The Croatian Health Insurance Institute (HZZO) fully covers these testing costs and the costs of treatment for all those patients in whom a mutation in the RPE65 gene causes hereditary retinal dystrophy.

Croatia is the first country in the world to make this possible for its insured citizens.

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Croatian Post is stepping up in the face of the current pandemic by donating something that is the object of desire for many to the Sveti Duh Clinical Hospital in Zagreb.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 26th of March, 2020, in the midst of the unprecedented coronavirus outbreak and the emergency situation in which we all find ourselves, Croatian Post (Hrvatska Pošta) is donating a 200,000 kuna respirator to the Sveti Duh Clinical Hospital. The respirator also comes with all the accessories needed for proper clinical use.

Aware of its important role in the community, especially during emergencies, in addition to donating to the Sveti Duh Clinical Hospital, Croatian Post has made its facilities available to the Croatian Red Cross and the Croatian Caritas.

Corporate social responsibility, which includes donations and support to local communities, is the framework of the wider Post2022 development strategy.

In accordance with the instructions of the competent authorities and the Civil Protection Headquarters, Croatian Post has readily adjusted its operations and took all of the necessary measures to reduce the possibility of spreading the ongoing coronavirus epidemic and to ensure as much fluid business continuity as possible.

''We're supply our employees with protective and disinfectants,'' the company stated.

The method of delivery of postage has been changed and postmen must avoid any direct contact with customers. All post offices also have spacing rules for users to abide by. Additionally, post office hours were shortened in accordance with the recommendations recently issued by the National Civil Protection Headquarters, who may need to bring in even more stringent measures if the current ones continue being improperly adhered to.

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