Medicines Agency Losing Expert Staff: Even Without Coronavirus We Barely Managed!

(Patria) - The Agency for Medicines and Medical Devices of Bosnia and Herzegovina is working at full capacity regarding the quality control of medicines during this crisis caused by the Coronavirus.

"Given that this is a medical and healthcare activity, mostly comprised of healthcare workers of all profiles, we did not wait for someone from the level of the Council of Ministers to organize us. We understood the seriousness of the moment ourselves, and thanks to the Agency's management led by Dr. Zolak, who immediately reacted with his Order on the formation of a Crisis Staff, especially for the position of the Control Laboratory based in Sarajevo, all human and material resources were allocated in terms of better organization and uninterrupted procedures for laboratory analyses of the most necessary medicines required for the treatment of our patients," says Ramo Hrustemović, President of the Union.

By its activity, this Agency is in the service and protection of preserving the health of the population of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

"The soldiers in white have had a POOR MATERIAL STATUS for many years; poor policy at the level of the Council of Ministers has led to us not having a sufficient number of expert staff, all due to the hiring moratorium. As concerned as we are about this pandemic, we are equally saddened by the fact that at this moment key positions in sectors are being vacated, people are going into deserved retirement. The Medicines Agency is a revenue-generating institution, it brings money into the budget, and it withdraws very little money for salaries and material costs of its employees. Politics should not worry us about how to survive after the Corona crisis, because we have literally been surviving for ten years since entering the level of the Council of Ministers on all issues of the Agency's functioning. Whether anyone will remember these people and acknowledge our chronic problems, I am not sure," added Hrustemović.