January 1, 2019 - The Ministry of Health has begun to think about building a new hospital in Kotor, said the Director of the General Hospital of Kotor, Dr Ivan Ilic.
According to the 2011 census, Boka Kotorska has over 80,000 inhabitants. The Kotor General Hospital is a medical centre also for patients from Budva, and more than 1200 foreign patients were treated last summer in this facility.
Asked if the hospital has the capacity for medical care of so many patients, Dr Ilic explained: "One is hospital accommodation, and the other is a contemporary treatment, a treatment that does not require long-term hospital accommodation but is, therefore, looking for an extremely organised emergency, the so-called daily operation. It implies active treatment, quality diagnosis, and recovery of patients. Regarding our capacity, we have about 165 beds that meet the needs of the region, but we are not satisfied with the space we have, and I constantly repeat it to all those in charge.”
Dr Ilic reminded that Kotor never got the main hospital building rebuilt after its destruction in the earthquake in 1979. Instead of new construction, there were montage buildings completely dismantled through decades. Over the past three years, the management has, through donations and own resources, adapted 850 square meters of montage facilities for the needs of polyclinics, laboratories, and technical services. In the same way, they intend to provide the facilities for dialysis, transfusion, and apothecary.
"We have a brilliantly equipped operating block that, unfortunately, is in an improvised space. This space is not built to be an operational block and cannot meet standards. It's the same with emergency service. For good functioning of this medical centre, it is necessary to invest funds for its expansion," says director Ivan Ilić.
"If there is a need to build a new medical centre somewhere then this is in this area. We have strong demographic growth, especially in Budva, Tivat and Kotor. The space between Jaz and the airport of Tivat will turn for few years in a large settlement. It would be ideal to build a new modern facility in the so-called Industrial zone and to bring together all three hospitals: the General Hospital of Kotor, the Psychiatric Hospital in Dobrota and the Special Hospital for Orthopedics, Neurosurgery and Neurology in Risan," according to Dr Ilić.
"I sent the Minister of Health a letter explaining why we needed a new hospital. I know that the Ministry is looking for ways to fund the construction. The plot of land of the Kotor and Dobrota hospitals is well worth the value of 15 million euros, which would serve as compensation. I predict that the construction of a new hospital would cost 40 million euros and that it would be quite achievable for our country. I constantly repeat that by developing tourism, we get guests who are thinking about where they go and what kind of health care they are on this destination. We have to take this into account because we have declared tourism as a strategic business branch," stressed for Boka News, the director of the General Hospital of Kotor, Dr Ivan Ilic.
Source: Boka News
