Dr. Miroslav Kinčl, founder of Poliklinika Barbel
Dr. Miroslav Kinčl is a specialist in general surgery and a specialist in plastic, reconstructive and aesthetic surgery, and the founder of Poliklinika Barbel (2000). His licence for both fields was issued by the Croatian Medical Chamber (Hrvatska liječnička komora, HLK), membership number HR139576.
“A doctor must be equally humane and brave in war and in peace, in a state hospital or in a private institution, because patients are the same – people.”
Dr. Miroslav Kinčl, 1996
→ Check the licence in the Croatian Medical Chamber's Directory of Doctors
Education and specialist training
He was born in Končanica near Daruvar. He finished secondary school in Garešnica and graduated from the School of Medicine at the University of Zagreb. During his studies and internship he worked in the intensive care unit of the “Dr. Fran Mihaljević” Clinic for Infectious Diseases, where he learned how to care for the most severely ill patients and carry out emergency procedures.
He began his specialist training in general surgery at Zabok General Hospital, as part of the surgical school of Sestre milosrdnice University Hospital Centre, under the mentorship of Prof. Nenad Čerlek, MD, PhD, an abdominal surgeon, and continued it at Rebro University Hospital Centre (KBC Rebro). There, in the team of Prof. Vuk Borčić, MD, PhD, he took part in the first liver transplants performed in the country at that time. He completed his traumatology rotation at the Trauma Clinic in Zagreb.
He completed his subspecialist training in plastic, reconstructive and aesthetic surgery under the mentorship of Prof. Zdenko Stanec, MD, PhD, at KBC Rebro, Dubrava University Hospital and the ENT Clinic at Šalata. Part of his training took place in Germany, with Prof. Neven Olivari, MD, PhD, head of the Clinic for Plastic Surgery in Wesseling, and Dr. Ante Radeljić, head of plastic surgery at a hospital in Frankfurt. He passed the subspecialist examination in Zagreb.
Clinical work and experience
As a volunteer he took part in the Croatian War of Independence from 1991 to 1995, where he organised the medical service and treated the wounded. He was wounded several times and decorated for his service in wartime healthcare. He is included in the book “The Face of Mercy: A Photographic History of Medicine at War” (Matthew Naythons, Random House), an overview of war medicine from the American Civil War to modern wars.
He started his private practice in plastic and general surgery in a family house in Dubrava, Zagreb, together with his father, Dr. Adolf Kinčl, a specialist in general medicine, and the anaesthetist Dr. Dunja Grabić. Poliklinika Barbel grew out of that practice: by decision of the Minister of Health of 21 January 2000 and entry in the court register of the Commercial Court in Zagreb on 31 January 2000, it was registered as a private healthcare institution for plastic and general surgery.
Areas of work at Poliklinika Barbel
In his professional work he has focused mostly on breast surgery, surgery for obesity and for the effects of major weight loss, plastic surgery after pregnancy, and corrections after earlier procedures and after the use of materials that should never have entered the body. He removed breast implants of unknown or disputed origin; in 2011, at the time of the PIP implant scandal, he warned publicly that a bigger problem than the implants themselves was work in unregistered premises and without proper specialist training. For years he has spoken publicly about the consequences of liquid silicone and other unapproved substances in the body; he has written and lectured on this subject.
Publications and lectures
At congresses and professional meetings, Poliklinika Barbel, under his leadership, has presented on the treatment of the consequences of prohibited substances, on the surgical and anaesthetic approach to obesity and the effects of rapid weight loss, and on corrections after procedures performed without proper professional training.