THE MATERNITY WARD AT THE REBRO HOSPITAL FROM 1942 TO 1946

The maternity ward at the Rebro Hospital in Zagreb was established in the newly opened new hospital on 12 May 1942. It operated discontinuously at the gynaecology and obstetrics department during three periods between 1942 and 1946, when it was closed. It was located on the second floor of the eastern part of the hospital with 24 beds. During the activity of the maternity ward from 13 May 1942 to 16 December 1942, 24 May 1944 to 28 August 1945, and from 6 February 1946 to 28 July 1946, there were 1,337 births. They were registered as live births, stillbirths and aborted children weighing 450 grams or more, so perinatal mortality was therefore significantly higher (38.89 ‰) because, in addition to physiological, a significant number of pathological births were performed in the hospital. The head of the newly established ward was Assoc. prim. Dr Filip Dražančić, who worked alongsideward doctors and midwives. Most of the women who gave birth were from Zagreb, with a smaller number of women from other parts of Croatia, primary housewives aged 20-30. In the mentioned period, three mothers died. All obstetric procedures, episiotomies, caesarean section, assistance during breech delivery, rotating of a baby, forceps, and treatment of perineallacerations were performed under local infiltration, spinal (lumbar) or general inhalation anaesthesia using ether. Along with a significant number of home midwifery deliveries and the already established hospital maternity wards in the Petrova and Merkur sanatoriums, the maternity ward at the Rebro hospital, until now only sporadically mentioned as an institution, had an important place in the development of hospital obstetrics in Zagreb and Croatia.