Minister of Health receives the President of the European Commission and the Slovenian Prime Minister at the Division of Paediatrics in Ljubljana

1. 7. 2021

Ministry of Health

Today, as part of her visit to Slovenia, Minister of Health Janez Poklukar received President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and the Slovenian Prime Minister, Janez Janša.

Janez Lenarčič, minister za zdravje Janez Poklukar, Ursula von der Leyen, redsednik vlade Janez Janša pred oddelkom za pediatrijo v Ljubljani — European Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarčič, Minister of Health Janez Poklukar, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and Prime Minister Janez Janša in front of the Division of Paediatrics in Ljubljana | Author Ministrstvo za zdravje

The delegation visited the Division of Paediatrics in Ljubljana as part of its visits to Member States and support for the Recovery and Resilience Facility (the RRF). The European Commission President was welcomed by the State Secretary at the Ministry of Health, Robert Cugelj, the Director of the University Medical Centre Ljubljana, Jože Golobič, the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Ljubljana, Igor Švab, the Head of the Department of Paediatric Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases at the Division of Paediatrics, Tadej Batelino, the Head of Intensive Care Unit at the Clinic for Infectious Diseases and Febrile Conditions, Matjaž Jereb, and the Head of the Clinic for Infectious Diseases and Febrile Conditions, Tatjana Lejko. They presented examples of good practice that were introduced in Slovenia during the pandemic, such as the e-bucket and examples from telemedicine, along with future plans for investments in healthcare, which will also be financed from the RRF.

These are investments in health infrastructure, medical equipment, digitalisation of healthcare and strengthening the competences of healthcare staff, which Slovenia included in its Recovery and Resilience Plan.

They include:

renovation and construction of an extension to the Clinic for Infectious Diseases in Ljubljana and construction of a replacement building for the Clinic for Infectious Diseases in Maribor (€110 million);
investment in the Faculty of Medicine in Ljubljana to provide state-of-the-art educational facilities, including facilities for medical simulation, and scientific research activities (€52 million);
further digitalisation of healthcare (e-health) (€83 million). This includes, among other things, the introduction of new digital services and the digitalisation of existing ones; the use of information technology to communicate with patients and other health system stakeholders; the planning of hospital capacity, health services and material needs based on actual use; better planning of patient care; and the introduction of quality monitoring based on real data in real time, including the introduction of monitoring of patient-reported treatment outcome indicators. During the visit, the digital solutions used at the Division of Paediatrics in Ljubljana will be presented.

President von den Leyen’s visit to the Division of Paediatrics took place in the context of a visit to Member States and the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), the centrepiece of NextGenerationEU. The RRF makes €672.5 billion in loans and grants available to support reforms and investments to be undertaken by Member States by 2026. Like other Member States, Slovenia has prepared a National Recovery and Resilience Plan, which needs to be positively assessed by the European Commission and then approved by the Member States within the Council of the EU. Following approval, Slovenia will be able to use the funds.