Vinogradska Hospital’s Major Renovation Nears Completion With New Radiotherapy Center and CSI-Style Lab

Vinogradska Hospital is preparing to put a third new linear accelerator into operation as its extensive reconstruction moves toward completion. The renovation of Zagreb’s Sestre milosrdnice Clinical Hospital began in 2023 and is expected to finish in the first half of 2027.

At the upper end of the large hospital complex, a new three-story radiotherapy center occupies 2,200 square meters. The building is complete, with vehicle access to the entrance and elevator. Its bright, spacious waiting rooms open onto landscaped terraces with benches, while the treatment areas contain advanced radiotherapy equipment.

Vinogradska has received three new linear accelerators and a new CT simulator. Doctors call the accelerators “linacs.” Two are housed in the new center, while the third has operated for six months in the old section, inside a converted bunker that previously held the hospital’s only accelerator.

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We are now working with two linacs, and the third will also be operating from tomorrow.

“We are now working with two linacs, and the third will also be operating from tomorrow,” said Željko Soldić, deputy head of the hospital’s Clinic for Oncology and Nuclear Medicine and head of its radiotherapy department. He said staff are undergoing the required training for the sophisticated machines.

Soldić described the equipment as both a qualitative and quantitative advance. New radiotherapy techniques, he said, should make treatment more effective while providing maximum protection for surrounding structures during radiation. Structural reconstruction is being financed through the European Union’s Solidarity Fund, while part of the comprehensive renovation, including energy efficiency measures, is funded through Croatia’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan.

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It is definitely an advance in both quality and quantity. With the new techniques, radiotherapy is better and more effective, with improved, maximum protection of surrounding structures during radiation, which is especially important.