ZAGREB, September 3, 2020 – The coronavirus epidemic, which has lasted in Croatia for slightly over six months, has cost the Croatian Health Insurance Institute (HZZO) HRK 258,200,823, the Jutarnji List daily reported on Thursday.
Most of the money spent was spent on testing, with as many as 175,346 tests having been peformed, which so far has cost HRK 200,154,907.
Medical treatment of COVID-19 patients has cost HRK 33.614 million, while the disease itself and isolation have cost HRK 24.431 million.
HZZO director Lucian Vukelic would not comment on how much more money Croatia could spend on the fight against the disease and he sees a widely applied vaccine as the only solution.
“The HZZO budget amounts to HRK 27.5 billion so the HRK 258 million spent on the coronavirus is not a big amount… but it has to be clear that COVID-19 and this epidemic is not something we had counted on, so every amount spent is important,” he said.
The entire system and the economy are at risk and every drop in GDP is very problematic, he said.
“If people lose jobs, no contributions will be paid into the budget… the budget is not being filled, and money is being spent,” Vukelic was quoted by the daily as saying.
(€1 = HRK 7.522517)
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