Editorial
https://doi.org/10.3325/cmj.2021.62.107
Fairer and healthier world for everyone - can lessons from the Dubrovnik Republic be applied to the COVID-19 pandemic?
Marina Lukežić
Ozren Polašek
orcid.org/0000-0002-5765-1862
; University of Split School of Medicine, Split, Croatia
Abstract
Quarantine, isolation, curfew, certificate… Although these
words have become popular in 2020 and 2021, they are
not new. If you had been around in the Republic of Ragusa,
today’s Dubrovnik and the surrounding districts in Croatia,
in the 14th and 15th century you would have heard them
being used on a daily basis.
In 1348, the city was severely affected by the plague, which
might have killed as much as two thirds of the city population (1). In response to this and other epidemics, numerous
counter-mechanisms have been developed. The Republic
had a small population that it was determined to protect.
The political ideals of liberty, prosperity, stability, longevity,
and social tolerance strongly affected the goal of health
care for all (2). One of the first European hospices for the
poor (Hospedal del comun, per beneficio dei poveri amalati),
was founded in 1347, while the earliest recorded Health
Office was founded in 1390. The Republic was also among
the first to employ and pay physicians, probably as early as
1280 (medicus salariatus); this meant that all citizens had
free and fair access to health care and it effectively abolished the traditional payment to a physician – a chicken
(3). The Republic was at the forefront of wholly understanding the inseparable link between population health
and economy.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
278051
URI
Publication date:
29.4.2021.
Visits: 704 *