Formation and organization of military medical service at the east Slavonia front in the 1991/1992 war in Croatia.

The work of the Croatian Army medical service of the Osijek Military District between July 1, 1991, and September 1, 1993, was analyzed. In the former Yugoslavia, Croatia was not allowed to have its own army. Therefore, the national armed force and medical corps had to be formed during the war against Croatia. Medical support to army units was initially provided by civilian medical services, i.e., by mobile surgical teams performing their tasks on the model of civilian ambulance services. Numerous objective obstacles, such as the lack of equipment, qualified military medical professionals, and experience in the organization and functioning of army medical corps, were encountered. Seventy-five members of the Osijek Military District medical service were killed, wounded, or missing. There were 145,410 recorded and treated cases of various diseases, 21,767 (14.6%) of them referring to war wounds. Forty-three medical vehicles were demolished and 20 were damaged. At present, transformation of the Croatian Army to a peacetime organization is under way.