October 20, 2020 – In an interview on Monday evening, Krunoslav Capak announced measures that could be introduced next in Croatia if citizens do not adhere to the measures already in place.
The director of the Croatian Institute of Public Health and a member of the National Civil Protection Headquarter Krunoslav Capak, spoke about a plan for the worst-case scenario and what would happen if there were not enough doctors and nurses to replace the infected health workers.
In an interview with Dnevnik Nova TV, Capak said:
“Although we do not expect such a scenario and we hope that it will never happen, we are preparing for it. We have more than 1,100 intensive care physicians who can work on ventilators and intensive care for COVID patients and flu patients.
However, we are also preparing for the scenario that other colleagues who are close to the profession will be educated and can learn the basics of intensive care relatively quickly. This also happened during the Homeland War,” Capak explained. He added that young doctors were taking emergency courses at the time.
“The Ministry of Health, in cooperation with hospitals, will prepare such courses, but we hope that this will not happen,” he said.
When asked how many newly infected patients Croatian hospitals can handle before the worst-case scenario, Capak said that we are “far from completely filling the health care system.”
He also revealed that he is not considering the introduction of a curfew.
“We have not talked about it so far, nor do we plan to introduce it,” said the Croatian Institute of Public Health director.
He says he does not think a new lockdown is needed, but it is necessary “for people to stick to the measures”.
“There are a number of other possibilities. Further shortening of working hours, reducing the number of gatherings, even in families,” he said and pointed out that it seems to him that Croatia is among the most liberal countries in Europe.
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