Currents of History 1/2019

Bojan Stojnić

The Organization of the Healthcare and Social Hygiene Department in Vrbaska Banovina (1929–1941)

Abstract: The Healthcare and Social Hygiene Department in Vrbaska Banovina is presented in this paper for deeper and broader scientific processing, with all its segments, such as healthcare and social hygiene institutions, organizations, doctors, pharmacists, spas, and institutions in the service of
healthcare. The turning point in the overall healthcare system of Vrbaska Banovina rested on the abilities of its first Ban Svetislav Tisa Milosavljević, who developed and intensified, as if blowing into a balloon, overall social life, along with healthcare, not only of Banja Luka as the center of the Banovina, but of all the district centers, municipalities, and rural settlements.

Key words: Vrbaska Banovina, the Ban’s Sanitary Council, hospitals,health municipalities, social hygiene institutions, the Institute of Hygiene, public health homes, healthcare stations, infirmaries, healthcare system, spas, doctors, pharmacists

Summary

This paper explains the organization of the healthcare and socialhygiene department of Vrbaska Banovina (the Banovina), which, with its founding in 1929, as well as the overall social life, was crucial in its development. Along with the development of the Banovina, owing to its first Ban Svetislav Tisa Milosavljevic, its healthcare system grew and spread not only in its center, Banja Luka, but also throughout its entire territory. Banja Luka got new and significant health care institutions – the Institute of Hygiene and a new hospital with several wards, which was significant for both the city and the Banovina. Furthermore, with the Banovina, both Banja Luka and the Banovina itself got several prominent doctors, whose services in suppressing infectious and social diseases had immeasurable significance for the nation’s preservation, especially for children. The importance of healthcare institutions was not relevant only for urban centers but also for life in the farming and rural areas, which were chronically ill. In fact, its work not only stopped the spread of infectious diseases, but also prevented premature death.

Over time, the healthcare organization was regulated through hospitalsin the towns, in the center of the Banovina and in district centers, but also in municipal and rural settlements. Particularly significant were social sanitary institutions – public health homes, healthcare stations and rural infirmaries, in whose chain the Institute of Hygiene in Banja Luka occupied a central place.

Back