Dr. Rožajac: Who has the right to shut down a hospital that we citizens built with our money

Dr. Suad Rožajac, president of the Trade Union of Employees of the University Clinical Center (UKCS) and specialist anesthesiologist-resuscitator, says that healthcare reform in Sarajevo Canton cannot be the closure of a hospital and cannot be done ad hoc, reports the Patria News Agency.

In an interview with Radio Free Europe, Dr. Rožajac says that it would cause more harm than good if the two hospitals, the former Military Hospital, today's General Hospital "Prim. dr. Abdulah Nakaš", and the University Clinical Center of Sarajevo, i.e., the Koševo hospital, were merged. Patients would wait longer, and the financial situation would be significantly worse.

RSE: The topic of healthcare reform in the Federation of BiH and in Sarajevo Canton is current, and within that, the public is most interested in the announcement of a possible merger of the two hospitals, the General Hospital "Prim. dr. Abdulah Nakaš" and the University Clinical Center of Sarajevo. Can the University Clinical Center of Sarajevo accommodate another hospital?

ROŽAJAC: When we talk about healthcare reform or healthcare reorganization, we are only talking about uniting two hospitals. That is not reform! What has been discussed recently is the closure of one hospital, and the question arises as to who has the right to close a hospital that we citizens financed, built with our money. The government has invested nothing in this process. Various loans we took out were repaid from the Fund. The government did not repay them from the budget, so as to say 'we invested ten million'. And if they were honest, then they could talk like that to see what the citizens think, whether they need two hospitals or not.

Healthcare reform is certainly needed, or rather necessary, because patients are primarily dissatisfied. They do not receive adequate service, they wait in long lines for diagnostic procedures. But healthcare reform is not made ad hoc, and the closure of a hospital is not healthcare reform. This is a project for the entire country, which must be carried out by a professional team, and not just any experts.

RSE: What would be the benefit and what would be the harm of that potential merger of hospitals?

ROŽAJAC: When we talk about capacities, we can accommodate all employees here and still not meet the criteria. But we cannot transfer beds. If the employees were transferred here and that hospital was closed and converted, for example, into the Federal Government building, as is being discussed, then we would lose that number of beds or put patients two by two on each floor. We can transfer employees, we can transfer equipment, chairs, medicines, but we cannot transfer beds.

RSE: What do we gain by moving one hospital to another and merging them?! Will we reduce waiting times or increase them. Will patients receive services sooner or not, that is one aspect of the benefit.

ROŽAJAC: And certainly, if we close the hospital, we will lose everything we have invested in that hospital over the past twenty years, and from the start, we will have to invest that money, if not much more, immediately in the Clinical Center to equip it. In European countries, there are five to eight beds per 1,000 inhabitants. Here it is less than three. We have not reached the level, and we are closing, destroying what we have. The Clinical Center has many of its own points, departments, clinics, located in old Austro-Hungarian buildings. We are constantly investing, repairing. And it would be wiser to invest money to house our capacities, ultimately, these new DIP buildings are planned for our capacities.

RSE: How complicated or, conversely, simple is it in practice to merge two healthcare institutions, in this case, two hospitals?

ROŽAJAC: Two hospitals can be united under one name, for example, they don't have to be called General Hospital "Abdulah Nakaš" and the University Clinical Center of Sarajevo, everything can be the Clinical Center, but without closing capacities. This way, we will reduce the number of directors and we will not have one management board and one director, and that is already a benefit. This does not mean closing the hospital and turning it into a hotel, into the Federal Government building, or some faculty. There are many cheaper and more suitable buildings to vacate and house the Federal government. I mean, a hospital is not an ordinary building, it has antistatic floors, special plaster, special installations... A hospital building is not the same as, for example, a faculty. It is a much cheaper building than a hospital.