AS/STA
23. 11. 2024, 10.57
Updated: November 23, 2024, 10:59 a.m
After a series of complications and delays, open heart operations began to be performed at the Celje General Hospital. The green light for them was given by the Ministry of Health after a tour of the premises. The team of surgeons led by Tomislav Klokočovnik performed five operations, according to the current plan they will operate on four patients every week.
All operated patients are currently in post-operative care in the local intensive care unit. Despite the accelerated pace of work, it currently appears that they will not perform all 50 operations, as many as were initially planned by the end of the year, the newspaper Dnevnik reports today.
On November 13, the Ministry of Health gave the green light for the start of open heart surgery in Celje. In this case, the Commission checked the fulfillment of the spatial conditions and the suitability of the equipment. The Celje General Hospital had previously announced the start of operations in the second week of November, but a little later it turned out that the Ministry of Health had not yet inspected the premises. Even earlier, the Celje hospital had planned that the operations would begin in September.
Before the start of the work of the department, however, doubts arose in the public in connection with the operation and introduction of the cardiac surgery program, the establishment of the cardiac surgery department and the purchase of medical equipment. The hospital confirmed that the procurement process for the purchase of the necessary equipment was carried out transparently and in accordance with the provisions of the Public Procurement Act.
The extended professional college of surgical specialties also assessed that the arguments speak against the establishment of a new cardiac surgery center. The Ministry of Health announced that, despite this, they do not intend to change their minds. Both the ministry and the Celje hospital referred to the position of the expanded professional college from 2021, which was in favor of the development of cardiac surgery in Celje.
Team leader A bellman performed open-heart surgery at the Celje hospital last year. At that time, he was working under the auspices of the Kardio Klokočovnik Institute, but it turned out that he did not have a license for hospital activity in Celje.
After the Health Insurance Institute of Slovenia refused to pay for operations without an adequate legal basis, Klokočovnik stopped the operations. The Ministry of Health did not issue a license for hospital activity in the case of Kardia Klokočovnik, but the Celje hospital did not abandon plans for open heart surgery. The government decreed at the beginning of the year that they would perform 100 operations per year, this year, according to the original plans, 50 would be performed. This time, Klokočovnik is employed at the hospital in Celje, but on a part-time basis, eight hours a week.
In the meantime, they are trying to establish an independent department of neurosurgery in the hospital in Celje, but for now the question of its financing is open. The mentioned department is currently still functioning as a section within the trauma department.
Source: svet24.si
