Zagreb woman waited two and a half hours for a blood test at hospital

“Classic Croatia. You wait three hours to collect an identity card, and three hours for blood too,” one commenter wrote after a Zagreb woman described her experience at Sveti Duh Hospital.

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Classic Croatia. You wait three hours to collect an identity card, and three hours for blood too.

She said patients take a number on arrival, wait to be called to a counter, and then wait again for the same number to be called for blood collection. She understood that staff cannot draw every patient’s blood immediately, especially when the procedure proves difficult, but called a two-and-a-half-hour wait “completely unacceptable.”

The woman also complained that the waiting room lacked enough seats and had poor ventilation. Patients arrive fasting for blood tests, she wrote, making the conditions especially difficult. She further observed that staff did not always call the numbers in order, citing an instance when number 136 was followed by 138 while 137 was skipped.

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Completely unacceptable.

A person who said they worked in the healthcare system offered an explanation. According to that account, Sveti Duh does not require laboratory appointments, and the number of technicians varies by schedule, usually ranging from four to five. Staff must locate and process each laboratory referral, check the requested tests, barcode the samples, prepare the correct tubes and identify patients. Difficult blood draws involving cancer patients and young children can take longer, while system crashes add further delays.

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What used to be done by five technicians is now done by two or three.

The worker said that tasks once handled by five technicians are now carried out by two or three. Other commenters pointed to Vinogradska Hospital, where patients can make appointments, and to a wider shortage of staff in Croatia’s public healthcare system.

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Whenever I have something I have to do through the state, I know I won’t wait less than two hours.