Dragan Stevanović: Sebija Izetbegović's informal political power stronger than the law!

Before any formal decision by the authorities, the relocation of the General Hospital "Prim.dr. Abdulah Nakaš" to UKCS is already being implemented, and a formal decision must be made by the KS Assembly, the Government, and the FBiH Parliament, warned Doctor Dragan Stevanović, Head of the Internal Medicine Department at the General Hospital and President of the Management Board of the KS Medical Chamber, as a guest on FACE TV's Centralni dnevnik, reports the BiH news agency Patria.

In a very open conversation with editor Senad Hadžifejzović, Stevanović spoke about the current situation with the General Hospital, which, if the authorities do not take concrete steps, faces closure even before an official decision by the competent bodies.

- First, we will ask the KS attorney's office to protect the property of KS. That this property is not devastated. The KS Medical Chamber will request it, I will request it as the head of a department. We have the legitimacy to do so according to the Law on Health Protection - said Dr. Stevanović.

He stated that the signing of "mutual requests" for transfer to UKCS has already begun, but that some doctors and staff have rebelled.

- Formally and legally, no one has submitted a paper, but essentially it went through department heads to submit a mutual request with a transfer date of January 11. The Neurology Department, GAK, and some instrument technicians from the operating rooms have already done this. On Monday, ORL employees were invited to declare themselves. If this is realized, the General Hospital will fall apart. The hospital cannot function. Then we will collapse ourselves and beg to all move upstairs - warned Dr. Stevanović.

When asked if the General Hospital is being relocated/closed due to the personal wishes of the now former director Sebija Izetbegović or the authorities, Stevanović said:

- The authorities have no clear idea what they are getting into, and that is the greatest sadness. Professor Izetbegović probably had ideas, but she didn't talk like that. She said she would build the most modern hospital, that we would be a formidable counterpart to the Clinical Center, but now the political pieces have fallen into place to do it differently, to transfer to the director of the Clinical Center, and only he is important - explains Dr. Stevanović, adding that Izetbegović said a few days ago at the Collegium that she is the conceptual creator of that project and that no health institution will enter it, but the space will be given to the Government and she will manage it. And that everyone will have a job at the Clinical Center.

Stevanović also expressed concern about the unfolding of the entire situation and emphasized that the working group formed to assess the justification of merging hospitals was not composed of experts.

- Such elaborations take five to six months to a year, and you had 7 administrative workers in a group of 10 people.

However, on the other hand, according to him, "Professor Izetbegović's informal political power is such that she will ensure all formal conditions in the KS Assembly and the FBiH Parliament for such a decision to be made."

- Huge material damage will be done that can no longer be repaired, and the political parties involved in this will be accountable to their voters. The Medical Chamber will, for the first time in 20 years, save its honor because it has publicly warned the authorities that this should not be done without serious elaboration - said Stevanović, who is in favor of merging hospitals, but not of closing the General Hospital where he has worked since 1989.

As a doctor, he cannot accept that a hospital capacity is being converted into a non-health facility, and there are many arguments for this. However, Dr. Stevanović also revealed data from the reform agenda, according to which the FBiH Government accepted the task of reducing spending on the health system from 7.11% of GDP to 6.2% of GDP within three years.

- There will be less money. Even now, BiH has the least money for the health sector in the region. Developed countries go up to 11% of GDP. We in the Chamber have been proposing this for 4 years and offering our participation in such projects. Because when you participate, you who are also the bearer of the health system, you also bear responsibility for all mistakes, and you provide all expert assistance to the authorities to implement what is necessary.

He said that there is no recorded case in the world where a hospital capacity is converted into office space, but that in this case it is a political game.

When asked about the loss to the health system if the General Hospital is closed, Dr. Stevanović gave very precise answers about the investments and equipment that this hospital has.

- A health institution consists of space, equipment, and staff. It was purpose-built on 36,000 square meters, very adapted for health space, 40 years old, one of the younger health facilities in FBiH. In 2000, about 9 million dollars were invested in adapting the space by the EU, and then another 10 million KM until now. Only in 2015, 4 million KM was invested in a new MRI machine that just started working, 300,000 KM for a new X-ray machine that has not yet started working, in November 300,000 KM for an incinerator of ecological medical waste (the ribbon was cut by the Prime Minister), before that 600,000 KM for complete medical gases.

A huge investment, you invest in November, and then at the end of November you come up with the idea to dismantle it all, to re-adapt it for government office space, to move some of the equipment, some will be lost, and to move employees to the Clinical Center because it is rational. So I ask, do you do that in your own house - he explained.