Al Tawil on the death of Dr. Pašagić: He went through a Calvary, what should others expect?

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - After the death of Dr. Šefik Pašagić, an epidemiologist and owner of the company Sanitacija, who died on April 5 at Podhrastovi while being placed on a ventilator, numerous questions have arisen. The Cantonal Prosecutor's Office has opened a case and is conducting all checks. The director of KCUS, Sebija Izetbegović, also spoke out, claiming that Dr. Pašagić was provided with the best care.

Dr. Djinan Al-Tawil spoke out via the polyclinic's page and explained what happened to Dr. Pašagić in the last days of his life.

"I have known Dr. Pašagić for about 20 years, practically from the moment I opened my private practice he was one of my first patients, always cheerful, quick in thought and work, and he often brought patients for whom he paid for the examination, selfless and charitable.

And on that April 1st, when he reported abdominal pain and weakness, and after we went through his lung CT scans and sent him to the hospital, I never dreamed that it would be the last time I would see him and that he would go through such a Calvary - a colleague, a doctor, a specialist, well-off and with many connections and people he had indebted in the city. What then can an ordinary person without all that expect? And the system must function for the ordinary person first and foremost.

If we do not change the way healthcare functions, we will have many more such cases, people dying at home, in ambulances, or shortly after being admitted to the hospital with many difficulties, because they were not treated adequately on time.

We must all use protective equipment, and again, most will sooner or later become infected and overcome the infection with more or fewer symptoms; without that, the epidemic will not stop, we need that collective immunity. The road to a safe vaccine that will make this easier is long, and by all accounts, at least a year is needed.

Most will get through the coronavirus infection with minimal symptoms, but the 5% or more in whom the course of the disease becomes complicated must have access to diagnostics and hospital treatment on time, which is clearly not the case now.

We urgently need a defined patient pathway for those diagnosed with an advanced form of the disease (which CT precisely detects), regardless of a negative or positive test for the disease (Dr. Pašagić is not the first patient whose repeated test was negative and only finally positive), so that they do not bounce like a ping-pong ball between the family doctor, emergency services, and the hospital and back.

It is incomprehensible that in this situation, 4-5 excellent CT machines, which exist in private practices in Sarajevo, are not included in the healthcare system through the Fund, so that patients do not have to pay for the service themselves. They would enable faster diagnosis of the disease, earlier isolation of the infected (current tests obviously become positive quite late) and, more importantly, timely recognition of more complicated cases and their earlier referral for hospital treatment. Reaction time is crucial in this situation!

Family doctors and epidemiologists would more easily decide who needs hospital treatment, the hospital system would be relieved of the mass of patients who can be treated at home, and those who need the hospital not only for coronavirus but also for heart attacks, strokes, other cardiac, respiratory, or digestive problems, would more easily access the necessary services. Let us not forget that people are still getting sick from other diseases and need adequate help; the system cannot remain so paralyzed and self-absorbed.

The coronavirus pandemic is undoubtedly a crisis situation, full of challenges and unknowns. But a crisis can also be useful, because it makes it easier to remove some illogicalities and anomalies of the system. When you do well, positive effects multiply, or when you do poorly, negative effects multiply. It is not about the crisis, but about the one managing the crisis.