HEAD OF SURGERY OF ZAGREB HOSPITAL RESIGNS DUE TO 'QUACK DOCTOR' CASE

ZAGREB, Jan 12 (Hina) - The council of doctors of Zagreb's 'Sisters of Mercy' hospital on Friday accepted the resignation of the chief of surgery, Petar Kirac, due to a recent 'quack doctor' scandal, involving a 19-year old Sinisa Filipovic, who worked in two Zagreb hospitals as a volunteer, impersonating a doctor. The head of the council, Igor Francetic, said Dr Kirac's resignation was accepted because he violated an order by the hospital head and the health minister saying hospitals could not accept volunteers. Kirac violated the order by introducing into surgery programmes one such volunteer, Francetic told Croatian Television on Friday night. He added that Kirac did not know at the time that Filipovic was impersonating a doctor. Filipovic's work did not have any adverse consequences for the health of any patient, Francetic added. The council also decided to dissolve a commission for internal control due to contradictory and incomplete information it gathered in the case and appoint a new commission in charge of establishing the facts of the case. On January 9 Zagreb police pressed charges against Sinisa Filipovic for quackery, impersonation and the forging of documents, after a former surgeon at the hospital exposed him and informed the media. Filipovic, who completed secondary medical education and did not even study medicine, managed to work as a volunteer at the surgical wards of two Zagreb hospitals during 1999 and 2000. (hina) rml