Croatian Medical Corps in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the 1992-1995 War

Military Medicine,  Nov 2003  by Bagaric, Ivan,  Eldar, Reuben

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From April to October 1992, during the aggression in the north, adverse military conditions did not allow the establishment of sufficient war hospitals, and those set up were destroyed or occupied by Serbs. Consequently, casualties had to be transported for some 60 km for 3 hours in inadequate vehicles through forests and across the river Sava to Slavonski Brod in Croatia and often arrived at the town's hospital in poor condition and shock, 354 (6.5%) dying during the transport, compared with the hospital mortality of 3.0% among 161 casualties who arrived alive.18,19 In 1993, a war hospital in Tolisa (in an unoccupied part of the region) was established to take care of the areas that remained under Croat control.

Discussion

General Aspects

The establishment of the Medical Corps was initiated and planned voluntarily by a group of young physicians who had no previous experience in military service or military medicine. From almost nothing, this team created a new health care system for the Croats of BH on the ruins of the system of a country whose institutions and sociopolitical leadership ceased to function.25 The original group of six young physicians was gradually joined by colleagues active in health care facilities throughout the country, as well as by many volunteers from outside. All of these became involved in the development of the Corps and in the execution of its varied activities. This evolution makes it a unique phenomenon in the history of military medicine. Other populations and countries were also attacked without having preorganized defense forces or medical military services. However, in no instance were the latter created solely by the initiative and voluntary effort of the medical profession out of almost nothing.

To emphasize this point, two examples from the post-World War II part of the 20th century can be cited, because the situations were similar to that of the Croats in BH in 1992. However, the establishment of the Medical Corps was a decision of the political leadership, and its development was based on an existing health care system.

On November 29, 1947 the United Nations approved the partition plan for Palestine, which called for the establishment of a Jewish and an Arab state. Arab leaders rejected the resolution from the outset, and their armed opposition started taking its toll. As part of the preparation for the possible armed aggression, the political leadership of the Jewish population of Palestine (numbering at the time only 500,000 people) initiated discussions regarding the required medical infrastructure should the conflict escalate into a full-scale war. It decided to set up a medical military service separate from the civilian health care system and entrusted heads of medical services of the largest Jewish underground organization with its establishment.26 The resources necessary for the setting up of the service were available: a network of well-equipped Jewish hospitals and other health care facilities as well as a considerable number of surgeons, anesthesiologists, medical administrators, and nurses who possessed the required military experience having served in the British Army in World War II. The service evolved into the Medical Corps of the Israel Defense Forces.