July 11, 2020 — Croatia’s Health Minister said the country must try to lower the cost of COVID-19 tests.
Croatia’s Health Minister Vili Beroš announced via Facebook this morning that the state will try to provide lower prices for coronavirus testing for citizens who have not developed symptoms of the COVID-19 yet suspect that they are infected.
General practitioners, family doctors and epidemiologists can order patients to get tested, with the cost covered by the nation’s healthcare system. But those orders have reportedly been hard to come by, with many doctors anecdotally adopting a “wait and see” approach rather than definitive testing to confirm potential cases.
Currently, those seeking a COVID-19 test without indications they are infected must pay HRK1,500, a prohibitive cost in a country with net wages averaging around HRK6,000.
In private clinics, serological tests can be performed for about 150 kuna.
“Testing for COVID-19 for all Croatian citizens, who according to epidemiologists have indications, is completely free,” Beroš wrote on Facebook. “One of the best tests with a very high percentage of reliability is used in Croatia. It is somewhat more expensive, but the accuracy of the results is important to us. For all citizens who, due to their needs, want to be tested, we will try to ensure the most acceptable testing prices.”
