“We knew that this second group includes a wide group of people aged 65 years and over and chronic patients, but we learned about the criteria only two days ago. Only a few county public health institutes received this document immediately, while others received it only two days ago,” Ban Toskić told N1 television while speaking about the vaccination of priority groups.
She noted that age was the sole criterion, adding that this put GPs “in a dreadful position”.
“Each of us has at least 100 patients older than 80 years. The criteria were set by a body that does not have representatives of family doctors. When there are no ideas or concrete solutions, the easiest thing to do is to say that family doctors will decide because they know best, which is not so,” Ban Toskić said.
She said that people are swamped with information while they need “concrete, clear and logical” solutions.
“We are in a dreadful situation in which we have to choose who to vaccinate and protect. There is no way for anyone to understand why someone was vaccinated before them, why their neighbour was vaccinated before they were. … It is unbelievable that none of the appeals from family doctors met with sympathy and response,” Ban Toskić said.
The best solution, according to KoHOM, would be for patients to sign up for vaccination via a digital platform or a call centre so that they can be notified when and where they will be inoculated. “All seriously ill persons who have a priority because of their condition could be vaccinated directly as recommended by epidemiologists,” she said.
For more on coronavirus in Croatia, follow the dedicated TCN section.
