The Celje General Hospital has joined UKC Ljubljana and UKC Maribor as the third Slovenian hospital to have a cardiac surgery department. The surgical team led by Tomislav Klokočovnik plans to perform 100 open-heart surgeries a year and 50 by the end of this year.

The open-heart surgery programme will be carried out by hospital staff in collaboration with external specialists. The hospital has recruited new qualified personnel who have previous experience with such procedures at other institutions.

Klokočovnik, an Izola surgeon who has previously collaborated with the hospital, has been appointed as acting head of the department. Alongside Klokočovnik, cardiovascular surgery specialist Marko Jovanović will also be performing surgical procedures.

The first open-heart surgery was planned for 8 November, but has been postponed until Health Ministry officials visit the cardiac surgery department with media reports saying the conditions for the financing of surgeries have not been met yet.

The hospital said its cardiac surgery programme will not only serve patients from the region, but from the whole country, especially the neighbouring regions of Dolenjska, Koroška, Posavje and Zasavje, meaning a pool of around 350,000 people.

The funding for the new department is to come from a regulation on mandatory health insurance service programme that seeks to increase access to health services and eliminate or reduce waiting times.

The hospital paid some €670,000 for the medical equipment. It also signed a €253,000 contract with Klokočovnik's firm Kardio Klokočovnik to lease its specialist medical equipment for a year.

"Easier and faster access to high-quality procedures will ensure shorter waiting times for critically ill patients and better public healthcare," the hospital said in a press release.