[Professor dr. Zdravko Kučić (1910-1961), Promoter of the Hospital Service in Post-War Rijeka].

Dr Zdravko Kučić was born in Bakar on 11 April 1910. In1928 he finished the Gymnasium in Sušak and graduated from the School of Medicine, University of Belgrade in1934. After completing the internship in Zagreb, he worked at the General Public Hospital "King Alexander I" in Sušak as a secondary doctor of medicine and later as an assistant at the Internal Department. In 1940 dr Kučić became the specialist of Internal medicine. Until August 1943 he worked at Sušak and Rijeka Department of Internal Medicine. Upon the unconditional surrender of fascist Italy in September 1943 dr Kučić joined the partisans in the National Liberation War (1941-1945) performing the most important duties at military sanitation departments. After demobilization from the Yugoslav Army in January 1946, he was appointed Head of Internal and Infectious Diseases Department in General Hospital "Sušak" and in 1948 the Head of Department of Internal Medicine in General Hospital "Rijeka". In 1949 he was awarded the title "Primarius" of the Internal Medicine Department and the Director of the General Hospital "Rijeka". Dr Kučić was a prominent figure on the political and social scene. Among many of his duties in the bodies of public authorities, he was also the head of the Healthcare and Social Welfare Committee in the City Council of Rijeka. For many years he was the main organizer of the post-war public hospital health in the City and County of Rijeka. Dr Kučić was particularly responsible for the founding of the Faculty of Medicine in Rijeka in 1955. In 1958 he was elected as an assistant professor and in 1959 as an associate professor at the Department of Internal Medicine of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Rijeka. He died in Rijeka on 21 October 1961.