Patients from the Neretva River valley and the area of Vrgorac - heart attack and stroke patients, multiple trauma patients and seriously ill children - will soon be able to seek medical care at the Mostar University Hospital.

An agreement to that effect was signed in Zagreb on Wednesday by Croatian Health Minister Milan Kujundzic, Bosnia and Herzegovina Federation entity Health Minister Vjekoslav Mandic and Mostar University Hospital head Ante Kvesic.

“Most of the hospitals in Croatia are an hour-drive away from patients’ place of residence and due to historical circumstances and the proximity of the border (with Bosnia and Herzegovina), people who live in the Neretva River valley do not have the same status as other citizens in cases of serious illness, multiple trauma and heart attack and stroke. This agreement makes their status equal to that of other Croatian citizens,” Kujundzic said.

Emergency cases from the Neretva River valley will be treated at the Mostar hospital, which is open 24 hours a day, has good results and offers procedures that guarantee safety and quality, Kujundzic added.

Mostar University Hospital head Mandic said that the hospital had the necessary capacity to take in patients from the Nerteva River valley in Croatia, who, he said, had gravitated to that medical institution before 1991.