[The integral civil and military health care system]

The problem of the organization of the army health care system in the Republic of Croatia is very actual. At the beginning of the war, the all fighting formations were covered by the civil health organization. After the Croatian army was organized, the differentiation between civil and army health system has been established. The characteristic of that differentiation was integral system with primary health care and transporting of the wounded persons organized by the army, while the specialistic and hospital care were organized by the civil institutions. In the peaceful future the integral health system must be kept. There is no need for the army hospitals, because only one hundred beds for a year will be enough for the army consisted of about 50,000 persons. The civil hospitals can provide the high quality service with a short-term transporting of the patients. The Government of the Republic of Croatia has decided to establish such integral system which includes the civil hospital care and the civil specialistic out-patient care, while the primary and specific health care are in the organization of the army. This system is less expensive than the full army health system, but is of better quality and includes an easy approach to all health institutions.