Medical care in Istria

[Julijana Zappia]

Does anyone have any first hand experience of the medical care available in Istria, especially in relation to Porec. Someone had mentioned that they do not have a system of GP's as we do in the UK, and if you fall ill, you attend a hospital for attention. We have purchased a holiday home just outside Porec, which we would like to partly retire to in a few years, however as my husband suffers from Multiple Schlerosis I would like to know how that could be managed out there. Any help would be most useful.

Thanks
Julijana

[Peter Ellis]

Hi Julijana

There is a good cottage hospital in Porec. I used it once early one Sunday morning and found them very helpful, with no waiting. Staff spoke English. I had tests, was given an injection and a prescription which I was able to get at the onsite pharmacy. Diagnosis was spot on and I had no further trouble. One client had a heart attack while out here and was very satisfied with the treatment at the Porec hospital.
Out in Visnjan I've used the clinic there and again found them very helpful. I went without an appointment, waited with three or for other people, just like going to the doctor in the UK and was seen in about 20mins by a very helpful doctor, who again spoke English.
I'm officially registered with a doctor in Zagreb but getting treatment here has never been a problem. Medical treatment here seems good, efficient and inexpensive. Many of the doctors and dentists have done postgraduate training abroad, in UK, Germany and Switzerland.
My father-in-law in Zagreb had a quadruple bypass op last year, which was completely successful. I was amazed to be offered the DVD of the op, complete with all the monitoring equipment reports, when he checked out. Some how I doubt they'd risk that in the UK these days! If anything went wrong you'd have all the evidence! That particular heart hospital is very good and I think UK NHS patients can use it, too, if they don't want to wait in the UK.

Having said all this, I've no experience of MS treatment here, but I'd be surprised if they couldn't cope with it.

For anything major, people use the hospital 40 miles away at Pula. A friend's mother goes there 3x a week for dialysis and is awaiting a match for a kidney transplant.

I've certainly no qualms about relying on health services here, which, as I get older, I am more likely to need.

[Julijana Zappia]

Hi Peter

Many thanks for the information. It certainly puts my mind at rest to know there are several options. I've just come back from Porec and whilst there one of my friends who lives in Savudrija, was saying that they get exemplary treatment (far better than in the UK) from the main hospital in Koper (Slovenia), which is only about 20 minutes away from them. Apparently it does not seem to bother the hospital that they are not residents of Slovenia!

Julijana