Three hospitals in the north of Croatia - in Cakovec, Varazdin and Zabok - have been ready for the introduction of mandatory Covid certificates in healthcare, and in Zabok, a cleaner had to leave her workplace as she has not been vaccinated and refused to get tested.

The director of the Cakovec County Hospital, Igor Segović, said that 92 employees didn’t have a Covid certificate and had to be tested, which is 10% of the total number of employees.

“We have organized well and tested our employees today before work,” he said, adding that everyone accepted the test without any problems, mostly thanks to good organization and the fact that they were tested just before coming to work, and not the day before.

According to him, the test and the results are done in about ten minutes, and today 68 employees were tested, with all the tests returning negative.

Of the 1,869 employees of the Varazdin General Hospital, 1,405 have been vaccinated, and they have a Covid certificate, and the remaining 167 have to be tested, said the hospital’s acting director, Damir Poljak.

We have organized several testing sites and today we have tested the employees who were on duty, said Poljak, adding that 153 employees were tested on Sunday and none of them tested positive.

In the Zabok General Hospital and the Hospital of Croatian Veterans, 127 employees have been tested on Monday, and all the tests returned negative, said director Tihomir Vancina, adding that one of the cleaners who hasn’t been vaccinated refused to be tested.

“Based on a decision by national Covid-19 crisis management team and the Health Ministry’s instructions, she had to leave her workplace. She is considered absent from work until she gets tested,” he said, adding that he agrees with the decisions.