Hospitalization is a stressful event for both the child and the parent. It represents a disruption of daily life, accompanied by uncertainty and difficult emotional states due to separation from familiar surroundings, illness, fear of medical procedures and treatment outcomes, numerous restrictions, changes in routine, and an unfamiliar environment and events.
If, on top of all this, you are in a foreign country that is not entirely familiar to you, the stress is even greater, and it is understandable that you would want to stay with your child during their hospital treatment. However, the option to stay with your child is not always available in Croatian hospitals, and the child’s right to be hospitalized with a trusted adult is not guaranteed by law but rather regulated by the Ordinance on the Conditions and Manner of Exercising Rights from Mandatory Health Insurance. This right often depends on the hospital’s accommodation capacities and the determination of the parents to advocate for the child’s right not to be separated.
In any case, it is useful to know your rights as defined by the Ordinance, and we recommend that you always express your willingness and request to stay with your child in the hospital.
Full-day stay with a hospitalized child
According to the regulation governing the rights of children during hospital treatment, the right to 24-hour accommodation with a hospitalized child—depending on the appropriate accommodation capacity of the contracted hospital in which the child is being treated and based on a recommendation from the child’s chosen physician or the ward physician at the hospital—may be granted to an insured person in the following cases:
- One parent or guardian of a child under the age of three.
- One parent or guardian of a child with severe developmental disabilities, regardless of the child's age, provided that the parent or guardian, or the child, possesses an official decision or a report and opinion from a competent assessment authority confirming the disability, in accordance with specific legal provisions.
- One parent or guardian of a child under the age of 18 diagnosed with cancer or another life-threatening illness, hospitalized in a contracted healthcare institution for the treatment of children with malignant or other life-threatening diseases (such as a clinical hospital centre, clinical hospital, or clinic).
- One parent or guardian of a child during the child's inpatient medical rehabilitation in a specialized hospital for medical rehabilitation.
How is the right to full-day accommodation from points 1 to 3 exercised?
The right is exercised based on a referral for hospital treatment, on which the child’s chosen doctor or the doctor at the contracted hospital where the child is being treated must write the following under the section “Please, request ___”:
“Full-day accommodation for parent/guardian.”
Is full-day accommodation for a parent/guardian free of charge?
If you are employed in Croatia, then you have mandatory health insurance, which provides the following:
An insured person exercising the right to accommodation is not required to participate in the cost of healthcare services. Additionally, a person entitled to salary compensation under the provisions of the Mandatory Health Insurance Act has the right to wage compensation during this time due to temporary inability to work while caring for a child.
If you are not employed but have the status of a person under international or subsidiary protection, you have the same right to accommodation with the child as individuals with mandatory health insurance. However, you are not entitled to salary compensation (since you are not employed).
What if the hospital claims there is no space for a parent to stay?
In addition to staying with the child in multi-bed hospital rooms (where several children and their parents may stay together), the hospital may offer you separate accommodation in hospital apartments (if available). These apartments require an additional fee.
In cases where, according to hospital staff, it is not possible to provide accommodation due to “insufficient capacity”, the parent has no choice but to insist that the hospital find a solution to allow them to stay with the child. Parental experience shows that a solution is usually found once you demonstrate firm determination not to leave your child alone and insist on staying with them—even if that means sleeping on a simple chair—and refuse to be separated from your child
Daytime stay with a hospitalized child
When a 24-hour (overnight) stay with a hospitalized child is not possible or cannot be arranged, the right to daytime stay (not including overnight) may be used (by one insured person – one of the parents or a legal guardian) in the case of:
- a child under seven years of age, or
- a child with severe developmental disabilities, regardless of age.
Is daytime stay with a child free of charge?
An insured person who exercises the right to stay is not required to participate in the costs of healthcare services. A parent with mandatory health insurance, who is eligible for salary compensation under the Mandatory Health Insurance Act, is entitled to salary compensation during this time due to temporary inability to work while caring for a sick child.
If you are not employed but have international or subsidiary protection status, you have the same right to stay with your child as persons with mandatory health insurance. However, you are not entitled to salary compensation (since you are not employed).
Is the parental right to daytime stay with a child guaranteed?
Unfortunately, the right to stay (daytime or 24-hour) with a hospitalized child is still granted based on the recommendation of the child’s general practitioner or the ward physician at the hospital, and depends on the available accommodation capacity of the contracted hospital. Therefore, the decision is ultimately left to the healthcare staff, hospital practices, and the goodwill of the institution’s employees.
Parental entitlements during a child’s hospitalization
Financial benefits available for caring for a sick child are defined by the Mandatory Health Insurance Act and can only be exercised if the parent is employed and insured under mandatory health insurance.
Parents’s rights in case of their child’s hospitalization:
1. Right to salary compensation during temporary inability to work due to care for an insured person – the child of an employed or self-employed parent
A parent or legal guardian who has been granted the right to full-day or daytime stay is not required to cover healthcare costs. In accordance with the law, they are entitled to paid sick leave for child care and salary compensation.
2. Right to reimbursement of accommodation costs for one parent or the person caring for the child during the child's hospital treatment
If the hospital lacks the capacity to provide full-day accommodation with the child, a parent or guardian is entitled to a reimbursement of accommodation costs per day of hospitalization in the amount of 6% of the budgetary base (as defined by the Croatian State Budget Implementation Act for the current year), provided that their residence or stay is 30 km or more away from the hospital where the child is receiving treatment.
3. Right to reimbursement of transport costs related to the use of healthcare services under mandatory health insurance
Children under the age of 18 are entitled to reimbursement of transportation costs regardless of the distance, which otherwise must be 50 kilometers or more between their place of residence or stay and the location where they are referred for healthcare services. The condition is that they are referred to a different location for medical treatment and that the facility or private healthcare provider they are sent to is the nearest one capable of providing the necessary healthcare service, because the appropriate medical care, based on their health condition, cannot be obtained from a closer healthcare provider contracted with the Croatian Health Insurance Fund (HZZO) for that type of care. This right to reimbursement of transportation costs also applies to the person designated as the child’s escort.
The same applies to children over the age of 18 who are fully and permanently unable to live and work independently and are insured as family members under the mandatory health insurance scheme.
0
English
