April the 21st, 2022 – One very well known Croatian psychiatric hospital on Ugljan in Dalmatia is turning towards tourim, much like the vast majority of other facilities across many sectors in the country.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, all those who are experiencing psychological issues due to stress or burnout at work will be able to come to Ugljan to be treated, as well as to take a well earned rest from their varying problems.
“It’s going towards the final stages now. Whether anyone will apply for the tender, whether we will find someone, well… that’s the question now. It isn’t that simple, though. It isn’t easy to find an investor who will come and say yes and then invest immediately. Some funds are needed that not everyone has,” Mladen Mavar, the director of the Ugljan Psychiatric Hospital, told N1.
The whole story surrounding this Croatian psychiatric hospital’s turn towards the lucrative sector of tourism would entail additional employment of both healthcare and non-healthcare workers.
“The main thing for us is that we can hire people here from here on the island, as we’re now practically the largest ”firm” here. We have almost 300 employees, and about half of them are from the islands of Ugljan and Pasman. It’s something that encourages people to remain here on the island,” explained Mavar, citing demographic issues.
This was also confirmed to by the locals who welcome this type of tourism.
“I think it’s great and ideal. This is an island, it’s beautiful and the sea is there, so are the pine trees, it’s perfect for relaxation so it would probably be a real hit for stressed and mentally burned out people and those who need psychological help, because when here, the soul is really healed,”
“I think it’s a good idea and an idea that will come in handy. It’s quiet here. There’s space there and everything people need and this idea really needs to be supported,” they added.
This Croatian psychiatric hospital’s plans are also supported by the Tourist Board of the City of Zadar.
“This is really a commendable initiative and finally something like this is happening in Zadar County and the City of Zadar. This is certainly in our favour, since Zadar is already recognised as a cultural and gastronomic destination, along with the sport part of tourism, healthcare will just be like the icing on the cake,” said the director of the Zadar Tourist Board, Mario Paleka.
That same ”icing” will eventually be a lure for the Ministry of Health which initiated the whole story, as well. It seems that they took the idea very seriously and decided to deal with the accumulated shortcomings in healthcare in this way. However, it’s going to take more than just one single facility of this kind to be enough to solve the healthcare sector’s significant accumulated debts, but several of them. It remains to be hoped that Zadar’s praiseworthy example will be followed by other healthcare institutions across Croatia.
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