["De re publica otorhinolaryngologica]

"De re publica otorhinolaryngologica" is the title of the article by Ante Sercer published in Lijecnicki vjesnik in 1941, five years after the moving of the Ear, Nose and Throat Department to Salata. In this paper he elaborated his conception of a modern ENT department, and presented what had been done in this regard. Professor Dragutin Masek had a special merit in founding the Department in 1921, and stayed at its head till 1929. His successor prompted its moving from the building of elementary school in Draskovićeva Street to Salata, where other departments of the School of Medicine in Zagreb were situated. At the beginning of the 20th century, the issue of the construction of a territorial hospital which would serve as the University Hospital of the future School of Medicine emerged. Our ancestors showed great enthusiasm in overcoming the obstacles to the construction of the University Hospital in Salata. We chose only a small number of important facts by which we tried to demonstrate of the Department in the period in which the heads after D. Masek and A. Sercer were Branimir Gusić and Zvonimir Krajina. The most important current activities of the Department are further briefly described. Although the Department developed the programs which naturally follow from the respectable history, in agreement with creative potentials of its employees, and professional and scientific standards within the European Union, for the third time in the modem history we had to resists the unacceptable moving into restricted and unfavorable settings at the other location. Recently, plans of building the "eastern comb" on Rebro, and the moving of the Department to Rebro, have been offered. On several occasions the council of our Department gave negative evaluation of these plans and suggested solutions when the project became available "post hoc". Modest investments at the present location would provide the Department with a part of necessary conditions for further continuing development, appropriate to its impressive historical development and current value in Croatian, European and world otorhinolaryngology. It is well known that only the experts in a profession know the specific determinants and developmental requirements in their field. By defending its rights and duty to influence the design of developmental directions of the specialty, the Department has also today shown that it is worthy its past.