[Development of ophthalmology in Bosnia and Herzegovina].

Organized health services in Bosnia and Herzegovina started with the foundation of several vakuf hospitals (in Sarajevo, Tuzla, Banja Luka, Mostar and Travnik) financed by the fund of the Gazi Husrev-beg vakuf. In these hospitals services was provided by the qualified health professionals, mainly educated at the schools of medicine in Turkey, Italy, Austria, Hungary, Switzerland and other countries. Majority of them worked as civil and military physicians in the above mentioned vakuf hospitals, but also in the Turkey army hospitals situated in the all larger settlements in Bosnia and Herzegovina. During the period when B&H was managed by the Turkey and Austro-Hungarian empire there was no specialized ophthalmology services. During the Austro-Hungarian management there was a Surgical-oculist department within the Land Hospital in Sarajevo, which treated 4.47% of patients with eye diseases, among total number of in-patients, and according to the health service at the end of year 1900, during that year there there was 3238 general surgeries and 633 ophthalmology surgeries performed. In the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, beside establishment of the independent Eye department within the General State hospital in Sarajevo, in1923, also started development of the ophthalmology service within Surgical Department in Mostar, which was lead in 1929 by the ophthalmologist, and which grew in 1931 into independent Eye Department, as the second of that type in B&H. Specialized ophthalmology service in Banja Luka started to develop within the Surgery Department in 1931, and independent Eye Department was founded in 1945. Medical Faculty in Sarajevo was founded on 16th November 1946. Also on founded on the same day is the Eye Clinic, and appointed as its first director was Professor Vladimir Cavka MD., one of the first full time professors of the Medical Faculty in Sarajevo, founder of the Peoples society of B&H (Academy of Sciences and Arts of B&H) and the magazine, Medicinski arhiv" (Medical Archives). Founded afterwards was the medical faculties in Tuzla (1976), Banja Luka (1978), Foca (1994) and Mostar (1997) as well as Eye clinic with the departments for ophthalmology. At the time when the Medical Faculty and Eye Clinic in Sarajevo was formed there was three other eye departments in B&H: Mostar, Banja Luka, and Army hospital in Sarajevo, while the other regions and larger cities during the early post war period, did not have ophthalmology services. Prominent development of eye department at the general hospitals within regional medical centers, and later in few larger municipalities in B&H started at the eighties of the last century. Large and important role in promotion of ophthalmology in B&H have Association of ophthalmologist of B&H, which organized series of scientific and professional meetings, and medical ophthalmology journal "Yugoslav ophthalmology archives" which, while it was continuously published, published more than 1000 scientific and professional papers from field of ophthalmology, by authors from all republics of former Yugoslavia.