Contributions of doctors from Macedonia to the establishment and initial development of the Faculty of Medicine in Skopje, Republic of Macedonia.

AIM: To present an overview of the circumstances, initiatives and milestone activities of the process and actors, with special emphasis on the contribution of doctors from Macedonia to the establishment and initial development of the Faculty of Medicine in Skopje, Macedonia, in the period 1947-60 and beyond.

METHOD: A retrospective study based on archive materials, encyclopedias and jubilee publications of the Faculty of Medicine and Faculty of Dentistry in Skopje, other relevant sources of information, and a review of the relevant literature.

RESULTS: The Faculty of Medicine in Skopje was founded in 1947 and the first meeting of the Teachers' Council of the Faculty was held on March 17, 1947. The first generation of 153 students was enrolled in the autumn of 1947 and the first lecture was delivered on November 3, 1947. About 15 doctors from Macedonia--faculty staff in the period from 1947-54--had joined the initiative of the Government of Macedonia for establishing the Faculty of Medicine in Skopje, and an additional 22 lecturers from Macedonia, who had been elected in the period from 1955-60, supported its initial development. They played leading roles in the creating and/or development of a number of the faculty departments/chairs, institutes and clinics within the newly established Faculty of Medicine in Skopje in 1947 and in the first 10-15 years of its initial development.

CONCLUSION: The Faculty of Medicine in Skopje, founded in 1947, played a crucial role in the education of medical professionals, in improving the poor health status of the population and the overall further development of the health system and provision of health care to the population of Macedonia. The contribution of the doctors from Macedonia to the establishment and initial development of the Faculty of Medicine in Skopje, during the period 1947-60 and beyond, was dominant and essential.