Improving the availability and quality of health-care services is the key message of the 2014-2016 master-plan for hospitals in Croatia, said Health Minister Rajko Ostojic during the presentation of the plan at a news conference in Zagreb on Tuesday after his ministry unveiled the document on its website earlier in the day.
Our priority is not austerity but the satisfaction and safety of patients, Ostojic said.
The master-plan, which is to be put to public discussion before being endorsed by the government and the parliament, will have the character of a law, the minister said.
The implementation of the plan should start in June.
Minister Ostojic said that none of his predecessors in the last 20 years had enough courage to prepare such a plan.
Functional merger of some hospitals and creation of a new network of health care institutions are envisaged in the plan.
The purpose of the master-plan is to remove long-standing deficiencies in the functioning of the hospital system and stop the practice of introducing services in hospitals without a prior well-considered strategy, according to the ministry's explanation.
The plan was elaborated by Counseil Sante, a French consulting company entirely dedicated to the health sector, which was chosen at a public tender and the commissioned master-plan cost EUR 200,000. The implementation of the plan is expected to save 400 million kuna (EUR 52.5 million) over the three years.
The plan envisages the rationalisation of the current network of 31 health care institutions -- clinical hospital centres, teaching hospitals, clinics and general hospitals -- funded by the public sector, and this will be performed through the rationalisation of total hospital capacity and improvement of patient flow.
Currently, the number of so-called curative (acute) care beds is 15,507, which will be cut by about 5,000 to 10,510. The number of beds allocated for other functions of care such as day-care treatment is to increase from 2,421 to 3,409 in 2016, while the number of beds for rehabilitation, long-term care and palliative care is expected to increase from the current 828 to 2,372 in 2016.
The plan defines four regions covered by health-care planning: Northern and Central Croatia, Eastern Croatia, Southern Croatia and Western Croatia.
Of the 31 hospitals, 21 are to be merged.
(Hina)
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