[Analysis of civil hospitals in Pola (Pula) through a century of town history (1842-1947)].

The purpose of this study is to present the history of civil hospitals present in Pula through the 19th and the first half of the 20th century. All circumstances which are related to their founding and development have been analysed, together with a number of complex events which had influenced them through several decades. Careful archival and bibliographic research has made it possible to present the above mentioned material which explains the most important aspects of hospital care in the Province of Istria in the processed period. The first communal sanatorium in Pula was founded in 1842, while the first city hospital was built in 1875. The extraordinary urban development of Pula in the last decade of the 19th century had led to an urgent need of building a bigger hospital complex which was built on the hill of St. Mihovil and solemnly opened 6th October, 1896. On the day of 3rd January, 1904 the complete medical institution became the property of the Province of Istria thus establishing the Provincial hospital of Pula. The reconstruction of the history of the civil hospitals in Pula has made it possible to identify the chronic difficulties through which the health care system in the province had gone through. The reasons for the explained status are mainly the result of financial and organisational problems that inevitably affected the quality of medical care available to the population.