Transformation of health services from civilian to wartime medical corps--example from Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In the multiethnic Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croats and Muslims, attacked by the Yugoslav army and Serbs, had to employ rationally their poorly provisioned civilian health services so that they could respond to the extremely numerous and prompt needs of war conditions. The health services in the areas controlled by Croats and Muslims had to be reorganized twice because of sudden changes of wartime conditions. With further development of the situation, when all three sides participated in the conflict, the number of wounded increased rapidly. In the meantime, a large-scale population shift on an ethnic basis occurred in all parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, thus giving rise, along with a greater number of the wounded, to a severe humanitarian crisis. Civilians were therefore another heavy burden to the wartime health services. This created enormous problems for the inadequately provisioned health services of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the area under the control of Croats and Muslims. However, poorly equipped with personnel as well as everything else, the health services in the area controlled by Croats and Muslims, through appropriate reorganization, successfully accomplished their task in the wartime medical corps. Besides this correctly executed transformation from civilian health services into a wartime medical corps, high motivation of medical staff also greatly contributed to successful operation of the medical corps in the war zone despite the long duration of the war. In the majority of cases, the wounded were within 30-40 minutes from the moment of injury in the hands of a surgical team and within the next ten minutes were already in the operating theater. After primary wound dressing, the wounded were sent to one of the well-organized main war hospitals for further treatment. This resulted, along with secure evacuation routes, in a minimum number of lifelong invalidity among the wounded.