In 2020, Croatia's 33 hospitals treated 20% fewer patients than in 2019, hospital beds were less and there were fewer patients per bed, but there were more doctors and 10% more was spent on salaries, Jutarnji List daily said on Wednesday.

A Croatian Institute of Public Health report on the work of hospitals in 2020 shows that hospitals treated 581,093 patients, 134,549 fewer than in 2019. Bed use was down 13%, but spending did not drop.

The report shows that HRK 27 billion was spent on healthcare in 2020, up from HRK 26.5 billion the year before. There were 14.29 hospitalisations per 100 inhabitants, down from 16.7 in 2019.

There was also a drop in acute admissions, confirming the claims of those warning that the COVID year will leave lasting consequences on Croatians’ health. Due to the epidemic, some hospital units were empty as coronavirus restricted access to healthcare. Only emergency procedures were performed, while the rest, including non-emergency diagnostics and operations, were on hold.

In 2019, all hospitals logged 5.8 million days of hospitalisation, while last year that dropped to 4.6 million. There were also five fewer patients treated per bed. The bed turnover rate in 2020 was 6.49, up from 3.68 the year before, showing that admitted patients were hospitalised longer.

Hospital parametres measuring their efficiency were worse than in 2019, confirming that last year hospitals did less than 70% of their usual job.

Last year university and clinical hospitals treated 314,286 patients, down from 389,289 in 2019,  a drop of about 20%. The situation was similar in general hospitals, which treated 208,513 patients in 2020 and 251,742 in 2019. Day hospitals registered 532,796 patients, down from 622,851 in 2019.

(€1 = HRK 7.51)