In Slovenj Gradec General Hospital, a newly upgraded unit for nuclear medicine and a new, modern gamma camera were ceremoniously presented. They are still waiting for the ministry’s permission to carry out investigations, which is a condition for billing ZZZS.
“This is one of the biggest acquisitions for our hospital and patients in Carinthia in the last five years,” the director of the Slovenj Gradec General Hospital said at the ceremony John Lavre. He expressed his satisfaction that they managed to make the investment and that after obtaining the usage permit they could already start conducting investigations with the new apparatus. This enables examinations in the field of nuclear medicine, including the detection of precancerous changes in the body, heart and lung examinations and a number of other examinations.
With the new device, which replaced the more than 30-year-old gamma camera, they currently perform eight examinations a day, they want to perform even more, and the goal is to perform up to around 5,000 examinations annually, said Lavre. So far, according to him, approximately 1,500 patients from Carinthia have had to travel to other larger places for these examinations, and the investment will, according to him, contribute to shortening waiting times.
Awaiting permission from the Ministry of Health
The investment, for which the Ministry of Health has so far not allocated financial resources, is financed by the hospital itself. She plans to repay it in 60 installments, the first of which is due on June 5 this year.
As the director of the Lavra has explained several times in the past, the hospital will pay for the investment through the work performed. However, he said today that the Ministry of Health has not yet allowed them to carry out these investigations, which is a condition for them to be billed to the Health Insurance Institute of Slovenia. They are still waiting for this permit, and when they get it, they will conduct more investigations, he announced.
Funds are also available with the help of the second charity auction of Pahorjeve katrce
The director of the hospital once again thanked the Fratar family from Dravograd, who, as part of their charity campaign Katra – the second round of 275,000 euros of collected funds, donated 137,500 euros to the hospital in Slovenia for this investment.
The investment is worth a total of 3.9 million euros including VAT, of which around 2 million euros cost the new device, the rest is construction work. Lavre emphasized that it was “with wise planning and transparent public procurement is still necessary”to buy the equipment themselves and use the fruits of their labor to professionally equip the hospital and thus take care of adequate health care for patients from Carinthia and the wider Savinjsko-Šaleška region.
The professional director of the hospital said at the ceremony that with this investment in the hospital, they show a great desire for professional progress Natalija Krajnc. The head of the nuclear medicine unit thinks the same Irina Knežević. She added that they had been waiting for today’s event for a long time and that it was an important acquisition for the region and beyond.
They have the personnel to carry out all the planned investigations. they will have enough of them, they assure the hospital, where for now, in addition to the nuclear medicine specialist, a retired doctor works in the unit, and in the coming months two more doctors who are currently specializing are expected to gradually join.
Amendments to the articles of association and the unsuccessful motion to dismiss the director
In the Slovenjgraška hospital, the institution’s board recently approved changes to the hospital’s statutes, according to which the institution’s board will now have two fewer members, namely a total of seven members. Of these, four will be representatives of the founder, i.e. the state. In the short term, it is expected that the composition of the institution’s council will be changed by name.
Otherwise, he is the president of the current composition of the board of the institute Primož Stošicki at the meeting on April 20, he wanted to expand the agenda of the meeting with a proposal to start the process of dismissing Director Lavret, but this did not happen then, and there has been no new meeting in this regard so far. Finally, the board of the institution met by correspondence when it approved the new statute of the hospital.
Source: Rtvslo
