Hello,
I am a Slovenian national and a student in Koper. However, due to a strange technicality in the law, I am not eligible to obtain or purchase national insurance through the ZZZS. Therefore, for the last two years I have been paying for all medical services myself. While trying to obtain an annual flu vaccine at the NIJZ, I noticed three bureaucratic issues open to greater efficiency. One of them even stopped me from getting the vaccine. Firstly, because vaccinations require pre-arranged appointments with the NIJZ, an online calendar of available appointments has to be created. It seems to be a waste of nurses' time to answer phones and emails to schedule simple vaccination appointments. Secondly, there seems to be some bureaucratic problems between the NIJZ and the ZZZS regarding flu vaccination. While the NIJZ, as a self-payer, was able to offer me the encephalitis vaccine, they were not able to give me the flu vaccine. They said that there was enough vaccine in stock, but they could not give it to a self-payer because it had already been bought by the NHIF. In other words, the bureaucracy would rather allow the vaccine to spoil in the fridge than give it to citizens who are willing to pay for it. That is nonsense. My third idea is simple. In the US and the UK, the pharmacist is allowed to sell ordinary vaccines in the pharmacy. As far as I know, this has never been a safety issue and it obviously makes it much easier and more effective for the population to be vaccinated. This results in lower health costs and, in the long term, human suffering. This approach could also drastically help Slovenia's upcoming COVID vaccination needs. I foresee that these initiatives could save thousands of euros for nurses and doctors, wasted vaccines and reduced health costs due to easier access to preventive treatment. If easier vaccination could prevent one hospitalisation and death, we could save tens of thousands of euros.
Thank you and best regards.