Croatian medic 'denied Serb help'

By Mark Lowen
BBC News, Belgrade

Croatian police and the country's health ministry are investigating claims that a doctor refused to treat a stroke patient because he was a Serb.

If the complaint is upheld, the doctor involved could be struck off.

The United Nations refugee agency - the UNHCR - has expressed "grave concern" over what it calls an "inter-ethnic incident".

The Serb, Bosko Radic, was admitted to his local clinic in the town of Vrhovina, central Croatia, on Sunday.

He was suffering from stroke-like symptoms.

According to local media, after examining him, the overnight doctor said there was nothing wrong, suggesting he return home.

The local mayor then intervened, asking for the patient to be referred to a larger hospital.

Again, the doctor refused, allegedly telling the mayor to "get out", and calling him a "Chetnik" - the name of the World War II Serbian nationalist resistance force, also used to refer to Serb paramilitary groups during the Balkan wars of the 1990s.

The patient was eventually taken to a nearby hospital and diagnosed with a stroke. He has now been released.

Following a complaint from the mayor, Croatian authorities have launched an official investigation.

Mr Radic was a Serb who fled Croatia during the war but has since returned.

Many international organisations say they are worried that only around half of the Serbs who left Croatia have gone back, with over 100,000 still displaced.