Vucic: 350 Million Euros for Serbia's Clinical Center

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic toured the final works on phase IIA of the Clinical Center of Serbia in Belgrade on September 11 at 10 a.m. The tour was also attended by caretaker Health Minister Zlatibor Loncar and the institution’s director, Jelena Drulovic.

Vucic said a total of 350 million euros has been invested in the Clinical Center of Serbia to date. According to him, the amount was spread across four phases of work: the first phase cost 132 million euros, phase IIA cost 18 million euros, phase IIB, which is underway, costs 73 million euros, and 122 million euros was set aside for full equipping of the facility.

“Just for this here, 350 million euros has been invested, not to mention how much Tirsova and Visegradska cost. Every year we set aside 5.2 billion euros in total for healthcare,” Vucic said, responding to a reporter’s question about how much the state has invested in healthcare in recent years.

The second phase of the Clinical Center’s reconstruction and construction covers 47,000 square meters and is split into phase IIA and phase IIB. Phase IIA, covering 11,577.92 square meters, is in its final stage of execution, while phase IIB is being financed through a new loan from the European Investment Bank.

How many operating rooms will the Clinical Center have

Once it receives an occupancy permit, the Clinical Center of Serbia will have 34 operating rooms, three of them hybrid. According to information relayed to the president by representatives of the institution, three rooms are already operating. Two are cardiology rooms, one of which opened in mid June and the other in mid August, together handling 600 coronary angiographies so far. A pacemaker room opened in mid August and has carried out 80 pacemaker implants.

Vucic asked whether anything similar to these rooms exists in the region and was told that no such capacity exists even in Europe. The president was also informed that the Clinical Center had opened a multiple sclerosis center the day before, on September 10.

Doctors’ salaries and the cost of cystic fibrosis therapy

Vucic said Serbia spends 5.2 billion euros a year on healthcare overall and that spending on rare diseases today is 94 times higher than it was twelve or thirteen years ago. Part of the conversation focused on cystic fibrosis therapy, which the president said is needed by around 200 patients, with a single course of therapy costing between 200,000 and 500,000 euros, or a total of 40 to 100 million euros. According to Minister Loncar, citizens have complained about the work of the commission that determines priority for receiving the therapy, and Vucic asked officials to look more closely into the problem before a decision is made.

Minister Loncar specified that in 2012 doctors earned 597 euros, compared with 1,513 euros now, while nurses earned 287 euros then and 816 euros now.

“These are the facts. For nurses, especially in intensive care, that’s not enough. It’s not enough at all. I know it’s a huge difference, three times more, but even if inflation was 50, 45, 46 percent, this is 300 percent more,” Loncar said.

The minister added that there is a problem filling positions in intensive care, since medical staff are not applying for openings in those departments or for field work outside Belgrade. Vucic, for his part, said that more than 400 doctors have returned to the country and that the outflow of medical staff has been reduced to a minimum, though smaller problems persist with medical technicians and nurses.

What phase IIB includes

Phase IIB, worth 73 million euros and financed through a loan from the European Investment Bank, is still ahead. The project includes continued construction of the operating block: seven operating rooms, two hybrid rooms, four new angiography rooms, one robotic surgery room, a multiple sclerosis center, a laboratory and a server room. Officials on the tour did not give an exact deadline for completing this phase.