Barco and VamsTec support Croatian radiologists after devastating earthquake

Context

On Tuesday, December 29, 2020, a 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck central Croatia about 30 miles southeast of the capital, Zagreb, near the town of Sisak. The earthquake – the second to hit the area in two days and the strongest recorded in 140 years – killed at least seven people and left dozens more injured.

Buildings and infrastructure were damaged all over the area, including those of Sisak General Hospital, the region’s largest hospital, which was rendered largely unusable. Patients, including 40 Covid-19 patients, had to be evacuated. Medical personnel, including a team of radiologists, were forced to work from home.  

“Sisak General Hospital was already under great pressure because of the Covid-19 pandemic, but the December earthquake was another disaster on top of this,” says Sead Džubur, General Manager of VamsTec, PACS specialist and Barco partner.  

“As for the personnel at the radiology department, the hospital had already been forced to re-organize for social distancing because of the pandemic. Now the earthquake had damaged the building and IT infrastructure so severely, that all radiologists were forced to move out the building and work from home.” 

Challenge

“After the earthquake, only 20% of our hospital space was still safe for our patients and staff,” says Dr. Dejan Čanak, Chief of Radiology at Sisak General Hospital. “Even without these problems, our department was already under-equipped with diagnostic displays. Now the earthquake had made much of our medical imaging equipment unavailable, making the need for displays even more pressing.”  

Solutions

After consulting the hospital management about the most urgent needs, Sead Džubur decided that it was time to take responsibility. VamsTec therefore donated four Barco MDRC-2321 clinical review displays to support the dislocated radiology team during their forced home office stint. Sead also easily convinced Barco to donate an extra MDRC-2321 display and two Nio Color 2MP diagnostic displays. 

“This donation of Barco displays was the logical thing for us to do,” says Sead. “Our company has been a Barco distribution partner since 2014, and Sisak General Hospital was our first Barco customer. I also think that the donation is a nice example of European solidarity – an international company with headquarters in Belgium is supporting a Croatian hospital. Thanks to this donation, radiologists and healthcare professionals will again be able to work with the required diagnostic confidence.” 

Results

“We are very pleased and grateful for this generous donation by Barco and VamsTec,” says Dr. Dejan Čanak. “VamsTec has been our partner and PACS provider for more than 20 years. Our first-ever diagnostic displays in the hospital were two Barco Nio 3MP displays. They were installed almost 10 years ago and the image quality hasn’t changed over the years. We will use the donated displays to view CT, MR and x-ray images at home, with the same precision we are used to in the hospital.” 

About VamsTec

VamsTec, founded in 1990, has been supporting Sisak General Hospital for many years with image acquisition, processing, presentation and reporting solutions. The company also relies on Barco displays systems for integration into its PACS/RIS solutions, which have been installed in more than 50 healthcare institutions in Croatia and other countries in the region. 

About General Hospital ‘Dr. Ivo Pedišić’

The General Hospital ‘Dr. Ivo Pedišić’ in Sisak is a general county hospital that provides healthcare to residents of Sisak-Moslavina county, but also to many patients from other counties. It was built as a pavilion-type hospital and it operates in two towns, Sisak and Petrinja, in three different locations. The hospital provides healthcare to all age groups, from infants to the elderly population and successfully collaborates with The University of Zagreb School of Medicine, Croatian Catholic University and Secondary School for Nurses and Medical Technicians in Sisak.