August 3, 2024

Croatian Minister of Health prof. dr. sc. Vili Beroš on the occasion of World Health Innovation Day: “We are strengthening Croatia’s position on the world stage of health innovation!”

inister of Health prof. dr. sc. Vili Beroš, on the occasion of the World Health Innovation Day, pointed out to Health Hub:

“As we are celebrating our Olympic sports achievements, we are equally proud of our innovative health projects that put us on the global map of excellence in health care, from transplantation medicine to the launch of ePrescription, eReceipts, central eCarton, Health Portal, from initiating national programs for lung, prostate, melanoma cancer screening to the launch of new National Preventive Medical Check-ups as well as National Laboratory for Gene Profiling of Tumors and robotic surgery.

We’ve made numerous innovative investments in the public health system. One of the last ones that we have publicly presented is the Da Vinci robotic surgical system at University Hospital Centre Zagreb, currently the most innovative robotic surgical system in the world that will greatly help our healthcare professionals and patients. Robotic surgery is a great step forward in surgery, it has numerous positive effects on treatment outcomes as well as on the extent of hospitalization absentism and overall financial costs. Surgical procedures are minimized and thus, using the most modern technology, treatment outcomes are improved. The plan is to invest in other clinical hospital centers so as in the development of centers of excellence.

In addition, we are particularly proud of our telemedicine infrastructure that enables healthcare services at a distance, which is invaluable to our citizens, especially those in remote or less accessible areas. Telemedicine implements faster access to diagnosis and treatment, reduces the need for travel and improves the efficiency of the entire system. In this way, Croatia is setting new standards in the integration of technology and health care as well as further strengthening our position on the world scene of innovations in health care.

Croatia is setting new standards in the integration of technology and health care as well as further strengthening our position on the world scene of innovations in health care.

However, we must be aware that all mentioned is a curative approach and that a real change in the functioning of the health system paradigm can be achieved through the development of prevention, which is one of the key goals of the initiated reform of the Croatian healthcare system. By combining prevention with the most modern treatment techniques, I truly believe that we will achieve better treatment outcomes and improve the quality of life for our patients – one of the pillars of the reform of the Croatian healthcare system. “Health is first!”