Medical Center Subotica

The Medical Center Subotica is a giant with 2174 employees who are entrusted with the health care of about 200.000 inhabitants on the Northern Bačka territory. It was established in 1991 by the separation of the Institute for Health Care from the Medical Center Subotica. During 1992 pharmacy work unit also separated as an individual institution – popularly called City Pharmacy (hospital pharmacy is still one of the department of the Medical Center). From that point there haven’t been any big changes in the organizational structure of the Medical Center, but now we are on the verge of major reconstructions in order to join the European Union.

During the nineties our giant slowly withered away just to be completely brought to its knees in 2000, just before the democratic changes. Since then it is slowly recovering, but we would all like that its rate of recovery was as fast as possible. Slowly but surely, we are becoming better equipped and more capable to ensure higher quality primary and secondary health care protection, which is our primary goal. The Medical Center is expecting to be split on the Health Care Center, whose founder will be local town management, and the Hospital, whose founder will be the Autonomous Province Vojvodina. It is expected that by this action, better conditions for work, funding and management of the complicated health care system will be achieved.    

However, the most important change that should happen is in the heads of us working in health care, because we need to realize that whole different social relations are expected of us, larger commitments, more work and larger expectations. Nothing will be certain anymore – all will depend on our approach to our work and the demands of the new system on whose rules we need to get used to and which, what is most important (and most painful!), we need to accept.

M.D. Nebojša Rakić