Vučić tours construction work at Serbia's Clinical Center: "A total of €350 million has been invested" VIDEO

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Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić said today, during a tour of the final works on Phase 2A of the Clinical Center of Serbia, that €350 million had been invested in the medical facility alone over the past several years, stressing that spending on rare diseases is now 94 times higher than it was 12 years ago.

“€350 million has been invested here alone, not to mention how much has been spent on Tiršova and Višegradska. We allocate a total of €5.2 billion annually to healthcare,” Vučić said in response to a journalist’s question about how much the state had invested in healthcare in recent years.

He was informed that the first phase of work at the Clinical Center of Serbia cost €132 million, Phase 2A €18 million, while €73 million is being spent on Phase 2B, plus €122 million for complete equipment.

As he noted, spending on rare diseases alone is now 94 times higher than it was 12 or 13 years ago.

Vučić was also informed that the Clinical Center had received a multiple sclerosis center the previous day.

Speaking about doctors, Vučić said they were rational and that their main concern was not working conditions but staffing.

“When we look at things rationally, conditions are getting better, salaries are rising, and if you have an inflation rate of three or four percent a year, while salary increases are higher than that, that means real growth in living standards. And don't forget that in 2012, the average salary was less than 10 percent of the minimum consumer basket. Now the average salary is significantly above the consumer basket,” Vučić said.

Health Minister Zlatibor Lončar said doctors earned €597 a month in 2012, compared with €1,513 today, while nurses earned €287, compared with €816 today.

“These are the facts. For nurses, especially those working in intensive care, that is not enough. It is nowhere near enough. I know it is a huge difference — three times more — but even if inflation was 50, 45 or 46 percent, this is a 300 percent increase. So the difference is significant. That is why fewer of them are leaving for other countries, while some are returning, because the cost of living here is significantly lower than in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Italy, and people take that into account when making their calculations,” Vučić said.

He noted that more than 400 doctors had returned to Serbia. Asked how important it was for doctors to remain in the country, Vučić said the outflow of doctors was minimal and almost nonexistent, although there were still some problems with medical technicians and nurses. Lončar informed him that there was a shortage of intensive-care medical staff because they were not applying for vacancies.

“I cannot imagine a more difficult job than working in intensive care, nor working in the field. It cannot be paid the same in Belgrade and in the mountains. We will have to value that work better,” President Vučić said.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić also said today, during a tour of the final works at the Clinical Center of Serbia as part of Phase 2A, that the facility would have 34 state-of-the-art operating rooms, including three hybrid operating rooms.

“With this second phase, once the occupancy permit and everything else are in place, you will have 34 operating rooms, including these three hybrid ones,” Vučić said while touring the works with Health Minister Zlatibor Lončar.

Clinical Center representatives confirmed this to the president and said there would be four new angiography suites. They also toured general operating rooms where various surgical procedures can be performed. It was stated that three rooms had already begun operating: two cardiology suites, one of which started operating in mid-June and the other in mid-August. A total of 600 coronary angiographies have been performed in the two rooms.

A pacemaker room also began operating in mid-August, and 80 pacemakers have been implanted so far.

Vučić stressed that the operating rooms were state-of-the-art. He asked whether there was anything better in the region and was told that there was not even anything better in Europe.

The president was accompanied on the tour by acting Health Minister Zlatibor Lončar and Clinical Center director Jelena Drulović.

The second phase of the reconstruction and construction of the Clinical Center covers 47,000 square meters and is divided into two parts — Phase 2A and Phase 2B.

Phase 2A is in the final stage of construction and covers 11,577.92 square meters.

Phase 2B is being financed through a new loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB).

The project includes the continuation of construction of the operating block, with seven operating rooms, as well as two hybrid operating rooms, four angiography suites, a robotic surgery room, an MS center, a laboratory, a server room and technical facilities.