A county on Croatia's northern Adriatic coast is paying cash to keep medical staff in post, in a sign of how stretched local healthcare has become. Primorje-Gorski Kotar County — which takes in Rijeka and the popular Kvarner Riviera — is short 29 nurses and technicians in its primary care system, mainly in family medicine and community nursing.
From October to December 2026, around 350 healthcare workers will receive a net bonus of €250 a month, with close to €480,000 set aside for the scheme. The county has committed to funding the bonus through 2027 as well, and says it may extend it to other public healthcare institutions struggling to recruit.
The second strand targets the pipeline of future staff. Fifty scholarships will be available for the 2026/27 school year to students training as nurses or medical technicians, worth €200 a month for first-years and rising to €400 for those in their fifth year, paid over ten months. There's a catch: recipients may be required to work for three years in a county-run healthcare or social-care institution after graduating, though that obligation is paused if they continue studying in the field. The county says it will keep funding medical specialisations alongside the new measures.
Officials frame the package as a broader retention strategy rather than a simple pay rise, and point out that shortages bite hardest when demand spikes. For anyone planning a holiday in Kvarner — Rijeka, Opatija, the islands of Krk, Cres and Lošinj all fall under this county — it's a reminder that local primary care can run thin during peak season, when the population swells with visitors. Travel insurance that covers private clinics, and knowing where the nearest urgent care point is, are worth sorting before you travel. The story also reflects a much wider European problem: attracting trained medical staff and holding on to the ones already in public systems.
