Arabs did not want to be examined in Sarajevo Canton Health Centers, Management claims they provide service to everyone

No one has precise data yet on how many foreign citizens are staying in Bosnia and Herzegovina during these summer months, but it is evident that there are a large number of tourists in the country. In the capital of BiH, Sarajevo, tourists from the Middle and Near East are leading, and some of them are dissatisfied with the treatment they encountered in the Sarajevo Canton Health Centers, so they have addressed their complaints to the BiH news agency Patria.

The letter states that some Arabs were turned away from Health Centers because doctors did not want to admit them or examine their children because they did not have a translator with them. As they claim, they had arranged for a person to translate over the phone, but the doctor did not agree to it. They wonder if they would act this way with tourists from Western countries. They note that they are prepared and willing to pay for all services.

- We were forced to go to a private institution where the examination was performed. Of course, we wanted to pay for all the services we would have received at the Health Center, but they did not want to admit us. And this is not an isolated case, it is happening in almost all health centers in Sarajevo Canton – states a group of tourists who will spend two months in BiH.

From the Sarajevo Canton Health Centers, they say that all patients who enter the JU Sarajevo Canton Health Center system, regardless of their gender, age, or racial category, receive healthcare adequate to the patient's condition, as assessed by the institution's professional staff, and in accordance with professional, ethical, and moral principles and the Rulebook on Healthcare and Protection.

- Therefore, aware of the fact that Sarajevo has had the characteristics of a metropolis for many years, especially in the summer period when we also become a tourist destination, the frequency of our services increases for foreign citizens as well. Emergency cases are treated urgently and the provision of healthcare has never failed. For cases that are not urgent and require a more detailed patient history, knowledge of the language is necessary for unimpeded communication – said Arman Šarkić, spokesperson for JU Sarajevo Canton Health Centers.