ZAGREB, Dec 27, 2020 – A physician and a nurse working in the intensive care unit of Zagreb’s Dubrava hospital, converted into the central hospital treating COVID-19 patients in Croatia, got vaccinated against the disease on Sunday.
The vaccination was attended by Health Minister Vili Beros.
Thirty-five employees of the hospital will get immunised today and a total of 200 doctors and nurses working at the hospital will be vaccinated in the next two days.
Acting hospital director Ivica Luksic said that today was a big day, encouraging in many ways.
“The KB Dubrava hospital and all its employees have been on the front line of the battle against the pandemic from the very first day and for all of us this is a new beginning in the treatment of this disease,” he said.
Minister: We will reward KB Dubrava for selfless work done
Minister Beros underlined the role of the KB Dubrava hospital, which has been the most important centre in the country for the treatment of COVID-19 patients since March.
“More than 450 people are treated and 69 receive respiratory support on a daily basis at Dubrava. I learned this morning that 360,000 litres of liquid oxygen is spent an hour in the treatment of our patients. We could not have created such conditions in any other Zagreb hospital,” Beros said, adding that if possible, the government would compensate the hospital and all its employees for their selfless work.
“We will consider expansion to include new, research elements and new services. Once this epidemic is over, that will be a sign of gratefulness to all Dubrava hospital employees,” said the minister.
Beros said the number of infections in the past two days was small but that fewer tests were performed, noting that it was encouraging that the number of new infections had been declining in the past two weeks.
He said that the number of new hospital admissions today was higher than on Saturday but that there were fewer patients on ventilators than yesterday.
“The number of fatalities is the result of developments in the last 2-3 weeks. That number is expected to start going down in a week and a half because the mortality rate will start following the trend in the number of new infections,” said the minister.
