Dizdarević: Refusing treatment is a criminal offense everywhere in the world

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - Kemal Dizdarević was employed as a neurosurgery specialist and cerebrovascular surgery subspecialist at the University Clinical Center Sarajevo. Then he was fired. After a dispute, the Municipal Court in Sarajevo issued a decision that should have reinstated Kemal Dizdarević to the UCC, but he was fired for a second time. He temporarily went to the Middle East, but in the show Vox populi on OBN, he said that he was not "driven out of Sarajevo by Radovan Karadžić, so he won't be driven out by little Seka either."

Dizdarević commented on his case and the situation in the country.

"I am here, I never left completely. I had to fill this interim period. I am waiting for things to clear up, for the courts to do their job," said Dizdarević.

He touched upon the mass exodus of doctors and professional staff from our country.

"This is a country that does not have three million people. Sarajevo does not have 300,000 people, and the departure of doctors is a terrible blow. The UCC was built over decades, and now this has come to destroy it, because her husband had to listen to what she ordered, so she supported her. That's terrible. The devastation she is causing is long-term. It will take a long time to fix everything, and people eventually get used to a certain level, even if that level is basic.

They say, well, we live here. However, when you compare what we live here in medicine and generally with what is the world trend, it is incomparable. Maximum investment is being made, and we are devastating what we had," emphasized Dizdarević.

Highlighting that during all that is happening, he specifically addressed the case of the girl Nadin Smajlović, who was denied treatment at the UCC.

"That's terrible. It's hard to even talk about it. That someone who represents healthcare and is also a daughter-in-law, politically connected, backed by power and money, would publicly state that her doctors, and she practically forbids them, will not treat a sick child. With her stance, she practically forbade other doctors from treating her, and that is a criminal offense everywhere in the world, a criminal act, only a structure that harbors a fundamental psychopathy within itself could state that publicly," said Dizdarević.

He explained that complex relationships between patients and doctors have always existed.

"Especially when the family gets involved, and we have pressure on doctors, but you can't publicly say I won't treat you because your father did something. That's terrible. That doctor had the right to be afraid, to seek protection, but they cried publicly, they went on strike. Why didn't they do that earlier when other doctors were threatened?" added Dizdarević.
Speaking about his experience working with the General Director of the UCC, Sebija Izetbegović, Dizdarević says:

"She is a person with whom there is no discussion. She has probably learned that she can only talk, and others execute. She held meetings, but they were useless. I immediately publicly stated her goals. In a normal civilized country, you wouldn't let someone like that get out of control. If she has a problem like the one she has, you put her in a certain place. But, we have a problem that this dynasty that has ruled for 30 years, and which experienced its negative culmination with the son, stands behind such behavior. That is our shame, the shame of Bosnia, the shame of Bosniaks, and all others who identify with this region," states Dizdarević.

He said that what is happening now at the UCC is incomparably worse than anything that was done before, and he had conversations with former leaders of the UCC, who, according to Dizdarević, eventually realized that he was right.

"Her husband is humiliated by her behavior. We see that there is no way out for him, he is on that side, in that group, but we see that he is humiliated as a man, as a politician. Patients are the ones who lose, we mentioned the girl Nadin, she is just a personification of everything. People never understand, never create a critical mass to change things.
Those who are unprotected in this country suffer. Patients, children, pensioners suffer. These are special categories that suffer the most," added Dizdarević.