Ćemalović: Alarming epidemiological situation in Una-Sana Canton

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - Nermina Ćemalović, Minister of Health, Labour and Social Policy, stated at a thematic session of the House of Representatives of the FBiH that the health situation in USK is very bad. 

“More than 30,000 examinations have been provided in reception centers. The number of emergency interventions has increased by 50 percent compared to two years ago, and a thousand dental services. Migrants with HIV/AIDS have been registered, and a large number are homosexual. The epidemiological situation is alarming, the extent of scabies is large, and there is also lice infestation. We have vaccinated about 300 children against measles. The only cantonal hospital providing secondary care is Bihać. The number of services reaches over 50,000. The majority of treatment recommendations are not implemented, so patients return with relapses, and hospitals do not have the capacity to keep them for treatment. Many also have tuberculosis,” explained Minister Ćemalović.

There are about 5,000 migrants in accommodation centers, says the minister, explaining that a huge number are in private accommodation.

“Bihać is occupied by migrants. And 80 percent of them are economic migrants. We have empathy for families with children, but what do you say about a migrant, HIV positive, who raped a mentally disabled girl. They deal drugs on the street, they behave as if we citizens are second-class. They do whatever they want. I wish this wouldn't happen in your backyards. The Cantonal Hospital is in great debt. There are 5-6 thousand migrants in the canton. The hygienic-epidemiological situation is becoming more complicated every day,” stated Ćemalović. 

Then, the Mayor of Bihać, Šuhret Fazlić, presented his view of the situation. 

“Minister Dragan Mektić has been coming for a year and is making a fool of me and the people of Bihać, and the director of the Service for Foreigners' Affairs is doing the same. The migrant crisis is at the entrance to the country everywhere, and with us, it's at the exit,” stated Fazlić. 

He added that for the people of Krajina, it is a “humiliation to watch people starve.” 

“We are all for helping these people, but we are not for our lives being jeopardized. Croatia and the EU are not behaving as they should. This is a global and European problem, and it has been reduced to BiH,” concluded Fazlić. 

Naim Pidro (BiH Border Police) said that with the improvement of weather conditions, there will be a new wave of migrants.