The incidence of chronic non-infectious diseases on Croatia's islands is lower than on the mainland, with access to healthcare being equal and the number of family doctors, pediatricians and gynecologists per 100,000 inhabitants being higher on the islands, shows an analysis.

Around 110,000 people inhabit the islands, which have a higher share of older population than towns on the mainland. Only 12.7% of the island population are persons under the age of 14, while the share of that age group on the mainland is 14.3%. The share of persons aged over 65 is 28.1% on the islands and 22.3% on the mainland, shows the analysis by the Croatian Public Health Institute (HZJZ).

The most frequent diagnoses found in the island population are respiratory diseases, diseases of the musculoskeletal system and connective tissues, and diseases of the circulatory system, said HZJZ director Krunoslav Capak while presenting the analysis at a congress held recently in Novalja on the island of Pag.

There are 7,262 diabetes patients per 100,000 inhabitants on the islands, while the figures are significantly higher on the mainland – 9,746 diabetes patients per 100,000 inhabitants.

The number of persons suffering from hypertension is also higher on the mainland than on the islands – 22,413 patients per 100,000 inhabitants on the islands and 30,164 patients with hypertension per 100,000 inhabitants on the mainland.

“Access to healthcare on the islands is appropriate and in line with access to healthcare in other parts of Croatia,” Capak said, noting that the latest figures from the Health Ministry show that the occupation of positions in the primary healthcare network is much better on the islands than on the mainland.

As regards family medicine, the island of Cres lacks two teams and the island of Vir and Sutivan on the island of Brač are each one team short of the necessary number of family medicine teams.

As for primary gynecological care, the medical network on the islands is fully occupied.

The pediatric care network is not complete on the island of Pag, and in its community of Novalja, while Blato and Korčula on the island of Korčula each lack one team.

According to the HZZO’s latest available figures, there are 92 family medicine teams on the islands as against 2,207 on the mainland. The number of insurees per team on the islands is somewhat lower than on the mainland, with 1,027 insurees per team on the islands and 1,572 insurees per team on the mainland.

Pediatric offices operate on the islands of Hvar, Brač, Krk, Mali Lošinj, Rab and Korčula and have 7,803 insurees.

As for primary gynecological care, nine teams operate on the islands and their services are used by 8,755 women. They have fewer patients per team than gynecologists in the rest of the country.

Access to healthcare on the islands is being continually improved through new trends such as telemedicine, helicopter emergency medical service and medical speedboats, said Capak, noting that in addition to their regular patients, medical teams on the islands also provide services to visitors staying in Croatia during the tourist season.