During the 2020 earthquakes this school and four other buildings that are part of the Faculty of Medicine in Šalata suffered severe damage. Reconstruction began in November 2022 and lasted 17 months and over €11 million was spent on reconstruction alone, the school's principal Mirjana Kujundžić Tiljak said at the opening.
She underscored that the school did not stop operating during the pandemic or in the wake of the earthquake in 2020 but continued working at other locations.
Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, Minister of Science and Education Radovan Fuchs, Minister of Health Vili Beroš, Zagreb University Rector Stjepan Lakušić, Dean Slavko Orešković of the Medical Faculty, along with Members of the Croatian Parliament and European parliaments and other distinguished guests attended the opening ceremony.
Principal Kujundžić Tiljak and Dean Orešković thanked the government for securing the necessary funds for the school's reconstruction financed through EU funds, and the €87 million invested in to reconstruct the Medical Faculty.
Two other large projects are planned in the Šalata complex - the construction of a biomedical research scientific centre and the construction of a student polyclinic.
Minister Beroš recalled that the School of Public Health has been promoting the "public health story" since 1927, and in particular public health prevention strategies, which have been entirely integrated into the current health reform.
Plenković: €650 million for the reconstruction of health institutions in Zagreb
Prime Minister Plenković underlined that around €650 million have been secured for the reconstruction of health institutions in Zagreb alone, and €1 billion will be invested in the reconstruction of higher education buildings.
"We are entering the phase of completing the reconstruction of more and more buildings...Other completely seismically retrofitted faculty and hospital buildings will soon be completed," said the Prime Minister.