Round Up! – OTP banka donation scheme provides for a higher quality diagnostics for young patients of the Šibenik Hospital Paediatric Ward and the Institute of Neonatology of the Zagreb Clinical Hospital
The donations collected in the joined efforts of OTP banka d.d., Mastercard and all the clients donating by rounding up the amounts they paid in the first donation cycle of the Round Up! donation scheme, were used for purchase of the necessary diagnostic equipment for the Šibenik Hospital Paediatric Ward and the Institute of Neonatology of the Zagreb Clinical Hospital, where each hospital received HRK 527 thousand. In the second cycle of the scheme, the donations were used for the ultrasound device needed by the Paediatric Cardiology Unit of the Children’s Hospital in Split, and for refurbishment of the rooms at the Children’s Surgery Ward of the Children’s Hospital at Klaićeva, Zagreb.
In October last year, OTP banka d.d. and Mastercard initiated one of the most significant donation schemes for the public healthcare institutions, thus helping two Croatian hospitals procure necessary equipment for children’s wards each year. Little patients courageously fighting their illnesses are thus provided not only a better diagnostic and care, but also a more pleasant stay in hospitals. Around thirteen thousand clients of OTP banka d.d. joined the scheme in a way that, when they pay by their Mastercard® cards, they round up the amounts and contribute daily to the increase of the total amount in excess of the initially donated HRK 1 million, as paid by OTP banka d.d. and Mastercard.
The first donation cycle was concluded and - on behalf of OTP banka d.d., Mastercard and all the clients who had joined the scheme - the donations were paid to the Šibenik Hospital Paediatric Ward and the Institute of Neonatology of the Zagreb Clinical Hospital, where each hospital received HRK 527 thousand intended for the purchase of necessary equipment. Sanja Jakelić, MD, director of the General Hospital of the Šibenik and Knin County, asserted that the gathered funds would be used to buy ultrasounds for the paediatric diagnostic for all the medical specialisation fields and thus provide adequate care to the youngest patients at the Children’s Ward.
Mirta Starčević, dr.sc., head of the Neonatology at the Obstetrics and Gynaecology Clinic, mentioned that their hospital records around three hundred premature births per year, where one third of that number have to be delivered very early in the gestational age, which entails a number of complications and a long stay at the Intensive Care Unit. “With this donation we were able to procure the vital functions central monitoring system in the Newborn Intensive Care Unit. The purpose of such monitoring is to have a reliable insight into the infant’s condition, with minimum intrusion. Connecting of all the active monitoring into the central surveillance system enables a continuous and simultaneous monitoring of the condition of all the patients and, as such, represents a considerable improvement in everyday work, raising the level of care for our little patients by timely identification of any turn for the worse and being able to take prompt action."
On 25th February OTP banka d.d. and Mastercard presented an online concert held by Gibonni, singer songwriter who is the ambassador of this project, as a token of gratitude to the clients who round up their bills donating for better healthcare for children, and had thus far gathered over HRK 110 thousand for the necessary equipment for the children’s clinics in two largest Croatian towns: Split and Zagreb.
Professor Veselin Škrabić, Ph.D. med., head of the Children’s Clinic of the Clinical Hospital in Split, talked about the difficulties they faced in their work, and how this donation was to help the little patients and their parents: “Over the last couple of years, we have made great efforts to collect significant donations for the improvement of the work conditions in the Clinic, and we have managed to partly equip and refurbish the premises for a more pleasant stay of children and parents.
The donations of OTP banka d.d. will help us procure a new high quality heart ultrasound device. Around 3000 of ultrasound checks are done per year, and another device will shorten the waiting time, accelerate the diagnostic process and thus improve the entire cardiac monitoring process and treatment. I am honoured that OTP banka chose our Clinic for this donation cycle, and that our efforts to enable a better quality care and diagnostic for the children we treat here have been recognised. We would like to thank OTP banka d.d. and Mastercard for the initiation of this praiseworthy project, with a special thanks to all the citizens who have decided to join the campaign.“
Professor Goran Roić, Ph.D. med. spoke of the requirements of the Children’s Clinic at Klaićeva: “Although the year 2020 was marked by the pandemic and the earthquakes that have significantly affected the overall activities of the Clinic, which have carried on in such difficult circumstances primarily due to exceptional efforts and commitment of our staff. As many as 61360 patients were checked up at the Children’s Surgery Polyclinic during last year, of which 20409 ER cases, and 3280 hospitalised patients. Apart from the earthquake damage, the biggest problem in our work was that we had no rooming-in option, i.e. the parents could not stay with their children in hospital. That is why this donation will be used to improve the accommodation facilities for our young patients, as well as to ensure that they can be accompanied by their parents, which should be made possible by raising the level of accommodation to suits, in line with the new standards of modern paediatric medicine. The hospitalisation of our little patients, and their parents alike, would be less stressful, thus contributing to a higher treatment quality. On behalf of the Children’s Clinic in Zagreb, and on my own behalf, I would like to extend sincere gratitude to OTP banka d.d. and Mastercard on this charity project, their financial donation, and the exceptional corporate social responsibility and sensibility shown.“
The Round Up campaign is a continuation of the social corporate responsibility tradition that OTP banka has been upholding for over a decade, which proved especially important last year, when the healthcare system was in an unprecedented spotlight. Fully aware of the hardships that the already heavily burdened healthcare system endured in 2020, OTP banka d.d. provided over five million kunas to hospitals nationwide to help repair the damage sustained in the earthquakes, to fight against Covid-19 pandemic and to furnish children’s wards.
For more information about the Round-Up donation scheme and the donation progress meter, please visit otp-zaokruzi
