COVID certificates mandatory for health, social care employees as of 4 Oct

COVID certificates or a negative test will be mandatory for all employees in health and social care as of 4 October, the social policy minister's advisor, Zvjezdana Bogdanović, said on Tuesday.

Although it had been announced that the certificates would be mandatory as of 1 October, the national COVID-19 crisis management team today decided to push the date to 4 October.

Bogdanović said this was due to the wish to give employers enough time to prepare and ensure checkpoints for certificate verification and testing.

In care homes, the certificates will be mandatory for employees and people visiting their family members, she told the press, adding that the goal was to protect residents and employees from infection and from the illness.

Over 80% of social care beneficiaries have been vaccinated against COVID.

Bogdanović said over 60% of social care employees had been vaccinated. "We believe this will additionally motivate them to (get vaccinated) so that we can tray and prevent infection in our institutions."

No need to prejudge layoffs

Employees who refuse inoculation and testing will not be allowed to stay in the workplace, but Bogdanović does not believe there will be layoffs, saying the social care system had shown the biggest responsibility in the pandemic.

"I'm confident they will do so now as well. There's no need at all to prejudge layoffs or something like that," she added.

Substitutes will be ensured for such workers, she said, adding that the system was experienced in this, as many employees were sick or in self-isolation during the second and third waves of the pandemic.

"A way was always found so that beneficiaries received a timely service. So it will be now too," she said.

It is still not known how much money will be needed for testing unvaccinated employees, she said. Initially the testing will be done at the expense of the state budget, until the the national COVID-19 crisis management team decides that employees must pay for it themselves.

Beroš: It is impossible to tell now how long coronavirus tests will be free

Health Minister Vili Beroš said at a separate news conference that it was impossible to tell how long tests for COVID-19 would be free of charge in the healthcare system.

At the initial transitional period, we want the government to pay tests for all who do not want to get vaccinated and for the recovered from the disease, however, it is clear that it cannot last for good.This will depend on a set of elements, on the developments concerning the pandemic and on a rise in vaccination rate, the minister said.

If there is someone who does not want to undergo a test, who is not vaccinated and has not recovered from COVID-19, this will have to be registered and such people cannot have access to their workplace, said Beroš.

Unfortunately, this will be unauthorised absence from work, and there is no pay for those days, he explained.

He hopes that common sense will prevail and that all employees in the healthcare and social welfare sectors will understand their mission and that is to help beneficiaries, namely patients.

Hospitals must be safe places and not sites where the virus spreads, he said.

The minister announced free-of-charge testing for patients and persons accompanying them to the appointments or hospitalisation.

Text: Hina

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