DISPLACED MEDICAL STAFF RETURNING TO VUKOVAR HOSPITAL

VUKOVAR, Sept 25 (Hina) - A first group of 20 doctors and medical staff who were expelled from the eastern Croatian town of Vukovar in 1991 have returned this week to work at the local hospital, hospital director Vesna Bosanac said on Thursday. Doctors who have up to now worked at Vukovar hospital and who meet criteria to keep their jobs are currently receiving additional training in nearby Vinkovci to compensate for the six years of isolation during the Serb occupation of the area, Bosanac told Hina. She said that returning doctors had trouble finding accommodation in the town and therefore had to live outside of it like the rest of displaced Croats working in the UN-administered area. Most of them are accommodated in Vinkovci and commute to work every day. "The apartments of expelled medical staff should be rebuilt as soon as possible," Bosanac stressed. According to her estimate, the reconstruction and modernisation of the hospital will cost 20 million US dollars while a further 30 million will be needed for rebuilding primary health care centres and medical apartments. (hina) vm mm 251606 MET sep 97