ZAGREB, May 8, 2019 – A new Gamma Knife device valued at 45 million kuna was officially presented on Tuesday at the University Hospital Centre Zagreb (KBC), which is a huge technological step forward in radiosurgery in this part of Europe.
This “invisible knife” quickly and painlessly treats pathological processes in the brain. The nearest similar apparatus can be found in Vienna or northern Italy or in Moscow to the east, it was said at the presentation.
“We used to conduct 380 gamma knife procedures a year. With this piece of equipment, we will probably achieve 700 procedures a year,” the head of the KBC Zagreb neurology department, Zdravko Heinrich, said.
Gramma Knife treatment is covered by Croatia’s Health Insurance Institute (HZZO) while patients referred from neighbouring countries pay the full price. “A lot of patients come from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Kosovo and we have signed contracts with those countries’ health insurance agencies that pay the KBC the full commercial price,” the hospital’s director, Ante Ćorušić, said.
The KBC Zagreb received support from the Ministry of Health and EU funds to obtain the Gamma Knife and Health Minister Milan Kujundžić and Regional Development and EU Funds Minister Gabrijela Žalac attended the ceremony, expressing their satisfaction with this huge step in Croatia’s health system.
Eighty-five percent of the cost of the Gamma Knife was covered by an EU grant from the Competitiveness and Cohesion Fund from which 274 million kuna has been granted for highly sophisticated equipment for Croatian hospitals.
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