Health Minister Vili Beroš: Sustainability and patient in the focus goals of healthcare reform

Zagreb - Strengthening the public healtcare system, improving preventive healthcare, reorganising the hospital system, investing in human resources and, above all, making the system sustainable and placing the patient in the focus are the aims of the reform, Health Minister Vili Beroš said on Wednesday.

The health minister today informed the national parliament about a set of healthcare laws essential for reforming Croatia's healthcare system.

Thus, the bills of amendments to the laws on healthcare protection and mandatory health insurance were on the agenda of the parliament on Wednesday morning.

The changes envisage that every health professional will be obliged to provide urgent medical assistance also outside their workplace, when necessary.

Patients will be given a possibility to evaluate their satisfaction with the services they have been given in the healthcare system.

Concerning the organisational changes, speech therapy, psychological support and other specialist services, such as physiotherapy will be included in the primary level of healthcare in communities.

Mobile pharmacies will also be introduced.

The system of hospitals will be also overhauled.

Regulating the work of doctors in the private and public healthcare institution will be enhanced, according to Beroš.

The minister informed the parliament that the amended legislation is an obligaiton under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) and the NRRP makes 2.56 billion kuna available for the reorganisation of the healthcare system.

The draft amendments transfer the founding rights of the general hospitals from local self-government units to Croatia. The goal is a more rational and better utilisation of the existing capacities of the general hospitals and improvement of the availability and quality of healthcare, to be achieved by reorganising the management model in the general hospitals.

Also proposed is an increase of the maximum amount of patient participation in healthcare costs, from HRK 2,000 to HRK 4,000, which would contribute to the sustainability of the healthcare system.

(€1 = HRK 7.5)