ZAGREB, 24 March 2022 - Numerous Vukovar residents bid farewell to the wartime hospital director Dr Vesna Bosanac at the Homeland War Memorial Cemetery in Vukovar on Thursday.

Addressing those present at the burial ceremony, Dr Bosanac's long time deputy Siniša Maslovara bid her farewell.

"Most of us will remember her for caring for us all. She supported us and was there whenever we needed her, particularly when a serious misfortune or illness afflicted us. She loved her employees and fought for them to the limits of durability, even when everyone would leave them and when, sometimes, they would lose faith in themselves," Maslovara said.

He said that Bosanac seemed indestructible because she survived numerous misfortunes.

In the most difficult times for the hospital during the Homeland War, Dr Bosanac showed unimaginable courage, audacity and organisational skills, he underscored.

In addition to numerous Vukovar residents, also present at the funeral were the prime minister's envoy, Defence Minister Tomo Medved, Defence Minister Mario Banožić, Health Minister Vili Beroš, Vukovar-Srijem County Prefect Damir Dekanić and Vukovar Mayor Ivan Penava, who proclaimed today a day of mourning.

Vukovar Hospital staff paid their final respects to Dr Bosanac prior to her being taken to the cemetery. A commemorative ceremony will be held later this afternoon.

Vesna Bosanac died on Monday after a long and serious illness. She was 73.

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March the 21st, 2022 - Wartime Vukovar hospital director Vesna Bosanac has passed away following a long and difficult illness. She is widely considered to be one of the heroines of the Homeland War.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the exceptional Dr. Vesna Bosanac was the war and post-war director of the Vukovar hospital, a facility that became synonymous with the sheer tragedy that befell Vukovar at the hands of horrendous Serbian aggression.

Bosanac was appointed head of the Vukovar Medical Centre and the Vukovar War Hospital on July the 24th, 1991. The unspeakable events which happened in that Eastern Croatian town that autumn could barely have been expected by anyone, and Vesna Bosanac stepped up to the job, showing nothing but bravery and dealing with the responsibility of her position exceptionally well. During those terrible months, thousands of wounded people were treated and operated on in the shelled Vukovar hospital without food or available medicine.

Wartime Vukovar hospital director Vesna Bosanac and many other brave and selfless medical staff and other employees didn't leave the hospital until the fall of the Vukovar, and then ended up being captured by the Serb aggressors. She spent three weeks in the Sremska Mitrovica prison, two more days in the Serbian capital of Belgrade, before being exchanged and before arriving in Zagreb in December 1991.

She was awarded the Order of the Croatian Danica with the figure of Katarina Zrinski, she received the "Charter of the Republic of Croatia" on behalf of the Vukovar General County Hospital from Croatian President Ivo Josipovic, and the Association of Veterans of Podravka in cooperation with other associations from the Homeland War awarded her the Great Gold Plaque for all she did for the benefit of Croatia and the Croatian struggle for independence.

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