MEDEVAC Programme in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Commencement of implementation of the MEDEVAC Programme is linked to the war conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In late 1993, the British Air Force evacuated severely injured Irma Hadzhimuratovich, along with four other children, from besieged Sarajevo to London. British physicians were supposed to help with what their colleagues in Sarajevo did not have the resources to do. Regrettably, in spite all the efforts of British physicians in London, Irma died. However, her sad fate woke up the international community.
The war in Bosnia and Herzegovina was a renewed impulse for the international community to provide assistance to those, for whom there is inadequate medical care on the site of a conflict or a different disaster and who can be helped in those countries, which are fortunate to live in peace and have sufficiently developed medical care. At that time, that action taken by Brits was a sort of symbol for Europe, which the Czech Republic decided to follow.
Soon after the case of Irma Hadzhimuratovich, a fax message arrived in Prague, saying that a grenade seriously injured Alesandra Vujica, a four-year-old girl, in the small town of Busovacha, Bosnia. Local physicians did their utmost to help her survive. However, the girl remained malformed, bed-ridden and with a short and poor life prognosis. That was the first time when the Czech Republic implemented the MEDEVAC Programme and the Motol University Hospital based in Prague saved the lives of multiple children from premature deaths at that time. After Alesandra, evacuations of other seriously injured children and several adults followed during the year 1994.
The MEDEVAC Programme is not currently active in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
1993 - 1994
- A total of 17 patients with war-related injuries and other conditions received treatment in the Czech Republic.