TUDJMAN VISITS FIRST BORN BABY IN CROATIA IN 1998

( Editorial: --> 1902 ) ZAGREB, Jan 1 (Hina) - Croatian President Franjo Tudjman and his wife Ankica on Thursday visited the first born baby in 1998 in Croatia, at the Zagreb "Sisters of Mercy" hospital for female disease and maternity. It is a girl whose mother is Slavica Brcic, of Zagreb. The baby was born five minutes after the midnight, and is the fourth child in the Brcic family. After a conversation with the mother, President Tudjman and his wife gave a present to her and wished her well in the New Year. Commenting on this example which the family Brcic set by having four children, Tudjman said if there were more cases of such families with a few kids, Croatia did not need to care about its birthrate. He added that it was not before 1997 when the country managed to record a small rise in the birth rate. According to him, this is one of the main national problems, since there were more deaths than births in Croatia until 1997. Afterwards, Tudjman toured the maternity and held talks with the management of the hospital. At this hospital of Zagreb about 3,000 babies are born yearly. (hina) mš 011444 MET jan 98