Our Hospital was first established in 1909 to treat patients suffering from bone and joint tuberculosis originating from all parts of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which the present-day Slovenian coast belonged to at the time. Following the First World War, it was renovated by the US Red Cross only to be taken over by the Italian Red Cross in 1920. More information on the history of the Hospital is available here.
In the aftermath of the Second World War, Valdoltra became the Yugoslavian ‘Federal Institute for Bone and Joint Tuberculosis’ up until 1947 when it was relocated temporarily to Rovinj in present-day Croatia. After renovation work that was carried out between 1951 and 1956 and taking into account a considerable decrease of bone and joint tuberculosis patient numbers, the Hospital refocused on orthopaedics and was thus renamed Valdoltra Orthopaedic Hospital (Ortopedska bolnišnica Valdoltra) in 1961.
Today, Valdoltra is an orthopaedic centre boasting modern diagnostic and therapeutic methods (magnetic resonance imaging, computer tomography, modern operating rooms, arthroscopy with laser technology). The capacity of its three recently renovated pavilions is 190 hospital beds, accounting for over 50% of the total capacity of orthopaedic facilities in the Republic of Slovenia. Each year, its specialist orthopaedic outpatient clinics examine over 25,000 patients from all over Slovenia, and over 5,700 people are hospitalised each. Annually, the Hospital perfoms over 3,400 operations (prosthetics of large joints, spine operations, arthroscopy and other surgical procedures common in modern-day orthopaedics).
The Hospital employs 300 people, 30 of whom are specialist medical doctors.