Health Minister Vili Beros said on Friday that an internal inspection is underway at Zagreb's KB Sveti Duh hospital, where a 7-year-old child died a week after a tonsillectomy, to determine whether there are grounds for an inspection by the Ministry of Health.

The minister said he had ordered an internal inspection after the director of the hospital informed him of the incident on Thursday.

Hospital management confirmed on Friday that the child died after an attempt at resuscitation in the hospital’s emergency department on Thursday, seven days after his tonsils were surgically removed at the hospital and six days after he was discharged from the hospital.

The child was taken to hospital by ambulance in the early hours of 25 July, with no signs of life.

The hospital said it immediately informed the Ministry of Health and the police about the case and launched an internal investigation to determine the circumstances of the case.

The child’s body will be autopsied and an investigation has been launched.

Beros did not want to speculate about possible failures in the treatment of the child and pointed out that the relevant authorities would make their position known.

Beros: Central health information system is outdated

Regarding the situation in the health clinic in Benkovac in the hinterland of Zadar, where the IT system has crashed and patients have to wait days for referrals, Beros said that he had spoken to the mayor of the town on Thursday and that they had agreed to meet in Zagreb at the end of August and consult with the county officials responsible for primary health care to see how the primary health care system could be improved.

He said that the city authorities, county authorities and the ministry should consider measures to encourage young doctors “to work in places like Benkovac”. He added that according to the information he had received, there had not been adequate communication between the county and city authorities on the matter.

Regarding the Central Health Information System (CEZIH), which will not be available from 26 July to 29 July, Beros said that the system, which was established several decades ago, is outdated and should be integrated into the National Centre for Shared Services.

“This is being done to improve and make the CEZIH function better and to enable further digitalisation processes in the healthcare system,” Beros said.

The director of KBC Zagreb Hospital, Ante Corusic, said that the hospital’s IT system was functioning normally after the recent cyber attack on the hospital, adding that maximum efforts had been made to shorten waiting lists for medical procedures.