President Milanović Visits Faculty of Health Studies on its Tenth Anniversary

“Without university educated nurses, there will be no care for patients. There will never be sufficient physicians and doctors, and it is important that most of the work is done by nurses”, the President of the Republic Zoran Milanović stated in Rijeka today while visiting the Faculty of Health Studies of the University of Rijeka on its tenth anniversary.

Congratulating the Faculty of Health Studies, a public and scientific institute for the education of non-medical healthcare staff, on its first ten years of work, President Milanović noted: “We founded this Faculty ten years ago, and I am pleased to see what we have created. Those were my small contributions to science and education in Croatia and in nursing that are indeed necessary because we are aging as a nation, doctors are leaving, and so are nurses”. And as a consequence of the actions and the doctrine created many years ago, and which is being implemented and can be an orientation on how to work with the highest quality standards in the world, President Milanović cited the example of mortality in the intensive care units in Rijeka, which was the lowest in Croatia during COVID.

In the scope of his visit, President Milanović held a meeting with Faculty management and was given a presentation of this public and scientific education institute whose goal is the advancement of healthcare, ethics standards and quality healthcare. The Faculty of Health Studies of the University of Rijeka is the only faculty in the Republic of Croatia that is exclusively and completely oriented to the undergraduate and graduate (University) education of non-medical healthcare staff. In a tradition inherited from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Rijeka, from which it evolved, a total of eleven different study programmes are offered within three studies. The Faculty has 83 teachers, and 2,259 students have graduated in its ten years of activity.

In attendance at the meeting were the dean of the Faculty of Health Studies of the University of Rijeka Daniela Malnar, vice-deans Gordana Brumini, Željko Jovanović and Silvije Šegulja, Faculty secretary Ivan Križanec Ropad, Primorje-Gorski Kotar County Prefect Zlatko Komadina, mayor of Rijeka Marko Filipović and deputy mayors Sandra Krpan and Goran Palčevski.

After the meeting, President Milanović toured the Cabinets of Nursing, Physiotherapy and Midwifery of the Faculty of Health Studies, and talked to students who demonstrated the skills they acquire in the Cabinets. Finally, the President attended a presentation of the activities of the “Fritz Jahr” Bioethics Centre and of the World of Health magazine.

Alongside President Milanović was the Adviser to the President for Education Jadranka Žarković.

PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Tomislav Bušljeta