Dubrovnik General Hospital says it needs around 120 additional medical specialists and 60 nurses. Retired and external doctors, together with doctors in specialist training, are keeping services running—but they do not resolve the shortage.
The hospital reports a gap almost as large as its current specialist workforce
According to the hospital management, Dubrovnik General Hospital currently employs around 120 medical specialists and approximately 400 nurses. It says it needs roughly another 120 specialists and 60 nurses. The need therefore goes beyond a handful of vacant posts and affects the structure of a hospital serving a geographically isolated region.
These figures describe the hospital’s stated staffing requirement. They do not mean that the existing employees are absent or that treatment has stopped. Nor can they be used to calculate a waiting time or a specific care risk for an individual patient.
Anaesthesiology, paediatrics and transfusion medicine are particularly difficult
The hospital director identifies anaesthesiology, paediatrics and transfusion medicine as especially difficult areas to staff. These specialties are central to surgery, emergencies, births and the care of children. A small number of missing specialists can therefore affect many processes at once.
Dubrovnik competes with larger clinical centres for the same professionals. Its distance from other hospitals makes the task harder: shifts cannot simply be covered from a nearby city, and a regional hospital must maintain services even when they are difficult to staff or operate economically.
Retired and external doctors fill some of the gaps
Around 90 retired or external specialists currently support the hospital, according to the latest account. They are joined by about 40 doctors in specialist training. These groups expand the available workforce and make it possible to provide shifts, consultations and procedures that the permanent team would find harder to cover on its own.
Such bridging measures are nevertheless no complete substitute for permanently employed specialists. External assignments require coordination, retired doctors are not available without limits, and doctors in training need supervision. The figures therefore explain how the hospital is operating—not that the structural shortage has been solved.
Housing alone has not solved the staffing problem
Dubrovnik is also trying to recruit staff by providing accommodation. In a city with high housing costs, this is an important advantage. According to the hospital, however, the offer is not enough to fill every specialty it is seeking.
A long-term decision also depends on workload, career development, schools and childcare for families, income, rota planning and connections with the rest of the country. A single measure can ease one of these disadvantages, but it cannot replace an overall staffing strategy.
Longer waiting lists are the most visible consequence
The hospital management cites longer waiting lists as the clearest effect of the shortage. This mainly concerns scheduled examinations and treatments, for which appointments are allocated according to medical urgency and available capacity. The figures do not establish one current waiting time for the hospital as a whole.
Emergency care follows a different logic from a planned follow-up appointment. Anyone with acute warning signs should not wait because of a general report about staff shortages. Conversely, medical prioritisation does not guarantee that every non-urgent appointment will be available quickly.
Summer adds to the pressure
During the season, the number of people in Dubrovnik and the county rises sharply. Heat, traffic accidents and common travel-related illnesses increase demand while the permanent staff must continue to provide the same core regional care. This is why the staffing issue also matters to visitors.
The seasonal pressure does not amount to an official warning to avoid Dubrovnik. The hospital has reported neither the closure of its emergency department nor a refusal to treat tourists. Practical preparation instead means bringing medication, keeping insurance documents and an EHIC to hand, and choosing the appropriate level of care for non-urgent concerns.
What travellers should do if they fall ill
Call 112 or 194 for life-threatening symptoms. During a temporary stay, the European Health Insurance Card can help with medically necessary treatment from providers contracted to Croatia’s public health insurance system; private practices may charge patients directly. Travel insurance and the EHIC serve different purposes.
Not every infection requires a hospital emergency department. Depending on the problem, tourist clinics, family doctors contracted with HZZO, pharmacies and out-of-hours medical services may be a more suitable first stop. Croatia’s Ministry of Health publishes the current organisation of tourist healthcare by county.
A staffing figure is not yet a measure of quality
The large stated need is a serious signal for workforce planning and access to care. It does not, however, automatically prove treatment errors, poor medicine or a specific danger. Those conclusions would require different data and a proper clinical assessment.
What is currently established is that the hospital continues to provide care, uses additional external and retired specialists, trains new doctors and is seeking substantially more staff. It remains unclear how quickly the vacancies can be filled and how individual waiting lists will develop.
Evidence
Sources & date
Sources support the facts. Planning notes and recommendations are Golden Beach editorial assessments.
- U Dubrovniku nedostaje 120 liječnika specijalista i 60 sestaraCroatian Radiotelevision (HRT) · 8 September 2026current staffing figures, specialties in particular demand, support from retired and external doctors, specialist training and waiting lists
- Na zajedničkom sastanku dalmatinskih bolnicaDubrovnik General Hospital · 2026, checked 8 September 2026primary context on regional cooperation and the shared staffing challenges of Dalmatian hospitals
- Organizacija zdravstvene zaštite turista po županijama 2026Croatian Ministry of Health · 2026 season, checked 8 September 2026official guidance on tourist healthcare services by county
