Ministry: 1.5 billion kuna contracted projects for healthcare, including for Emergency

The Ministry of Health announced on Tuesday that they are intensively working on the absorption of EU funds for projects of integrated emergency hospital admissions (OHBP), day hospitals, and day surgeries, that they are very successful in contracting EU funds, and that the Ministry of Health currently has around 1.5 billion kuna in contracted projects for the healthcare system.

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The Ministry of Health has been intensively preparing calls and groundwork for the absorption of EU funds for projects of integrated emergency hospital admissions (OHBP), day hospitals, and day surgeries, as well as projects for vulnerable groups over the past two years, and has been very successful in contracting EU funds during 2016, 2017, and 2018, it is emphasized in the statement.

Regarding the allocated financial allocations for the healthcare system within the Operational Program “Competitiveness and Cohesion” for the period 2014 – 2020, the Ministry of Health currently has around 1.5 billion kuna in contracted projects, as stated in the Ministry’s response to media reports about the renovation projects of the Emergency Hospital Admission funded by EU funds.

It is added that based on the initiative of the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Regional Development and EU Funds announced a call in July 2016 for seven hospitals in the amount of 173 million kuna for OHBP projects, and seven predetermined applicants, i.e., hospitals in Croatia, can apply, namely in three Clinical Hospital Centers (KBC Sestre milosrdnice – Vinogradska, Osijek, and Split) and four General Hospitals (Varaždin, Dubrovnik, Sisak, and Bjelovar).

The Ministry assesses that they have recognized the importance of additional investment in the establishment and equipping of seven OHBPs and that documentation has been prepared and OHBP projects have been implemented for two years, for which non-repayable funds have been secured in the State Budget of the Republic of Croatia.

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Currently, five out of seven projects are in implementation, namely: KBC Sestre milosrdnice, OB Varaždin, OB Dubrovnik, OB Sisak, OB Bjelovar, and the implementation of the KBC Osijek project will soon begin, while KBC Split, according to the official statement from the hospital, will submit the project in 2019 after the completion of all documentation, the Ministry states.

They emphasize that all aspects of the application documentation for obtaining a positive Compliance Assessment of the EU project with the strategic framework in the field of healthcare are decided by the Expert Commission for the assessment of compliance of the EU project with the strategic framework in the field of healthcare.

They remind that the Expert Commission has a mandate to give consent to each EU project proposal within the lowest and highest acceptable amount of non-repayable funds: the lowest amount is 3.5 million kuna, and the highest amount of non-repayable funds is 20 million kuna for general hospitals (OB) or 31 million kuna for clinical hospital centers.

Guided by data on the execution of work in each individual hospital, the Ministry emphasizes, the Expert Commission decided to allocate amounts to hospitals that, at the time of considering EU project proposals, best meet the needs on the ground. In this regard, it is added, the management and supervisory boards of hospitals are encouraged to use the non-repayable funds from EU funds in the best possible way and, if necessary, to secure additional sources of financing for their projects. The Expert Commission treats all applicants equally when receiving EU project proposals.

Thus, the Expert Commission also considered the proposal from KBC Sestre milosrdnice (Vinogradska) and issued a positive Compliance Assessment for an amount of nearly 31 million kuna, which represents the highest possible amount of non-repayable funds that can be allocated to the hospital for the OHBP project, it is added in the statement.

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The Ministry reminds that all financial allocations of funds for OHBP projects are always decided in consultation with the Ministry of Regional Development and EU Funds, as the Managing Authority, as well as the ministry that announces infrastructure calls for EU projects in the healthcare sector.

“Following the above, upon contracting the remaining two OHBP projects (the estimated contracting of the KBC Osijek project is in 2018, and the KBC Split project in 2019), the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Regional Development and EU Funds will jointly decide on further activities,” states the Ministry of Health’s announcement.