Organization and Functioning of Primary Care for Women in Croatia: In Relation to the Health Care Reforms Introduced between 1995 and 2012

Abstract

Several health care (HC) reforms were introduced into the gynaecological services in Croatia from 1995-2012, without any scientific evaluation. The main aim of this study was to investigate trends in the organization and functioning of the HC service. The Croatian Health Service Yearbooks, from 1995 to 2012, served as the basis for the data. The results showed that the HC reforms aimed at the organization and functioning of primary care for women somehow compromised their accessibility. A general lack of gynaecologists, the huge number of women on the lists of practising gynaecologists, and an excessively heavy daily schedule of appointments and consultations were all observed. The location of the majority of gynaecological practices in the big cities also makes the service inaccessible to women from the rural areas. A flow of service away from the public to the private providers was also observed. Since, the results of this study can be viewed only in terms of trends more detailed research will be needed in future.