West Herzegovina Canton Government also against commercial vaccination, Grude will not be a health tourism boom

Hope for around 5,000 Bosnians and Herzegovinians and several hundred Croatian citizens to receive the Russian Sputnik V vaccine in Grude has been extinguished. Announcements that vaccination could take place here on a commercial basis for a price of around 30 marks have fallen through after the stance of the Federal Ministry of Health. The Ministry responded negatively to the request of the Public Health Institute of the West Herzegovina Canton, which had secured the procurement of 20,000 vaccines through its own channels.

- The Federal Ministry is doing its job and that story is over. Our canton will not participate in the procurement of commercial vaccines, Zdenko Ćosić, Prime Minister of the West Herzegovina Canton, stated for Patria.

We asked the Prime Minister why lists of interested parties were being compiled at the Public Health Institute.

- I only know that an activity was conducted regarding this. It was market research, because before procuring anything, one needs to check if there is interest, Ćosić told us.

Evidently, there was interest. Croatian media also reported on this, as citizens of the neighboring country would gladly come to Grude for the vaccine. Journalists from Slobodna Dalmacija contacted the duty phone of the Public Health Institute, and the conversation went like this:

“Are you from Croatia? Oh, yes, you can pre-register, we just need your details to sign you up. No, no, it doesn’t matter that you are from Croatia, you can freely sign up. The price of the vaccine will be between 25 and 40 convertible marks per dose, yes, yes, it is commercial in nature. You don’t pay immediately, only when you come here for vaccination. You pay the pharmacy, we take the doses for that day according to the vaccination plan and issue a bill to the user. We just need your details, that’s all. You get vaccinated in the order you booked. Yes, there are other Croats on the pre-registration list, it has obviously become known, it has spread, calls have started coming in“ – a kind nurse told Slobodna Dalmacija.

The director of the Public Health Institute of the West Herzegovina Canton did not answer today, but unlike the Prime Minister, she did not hide her disappointment with the decision of the Federal Ministry. She found the stance of the FBiH Ministry of Health problematic, according to which no risky drug, which includes vaccines, can be in circulation and use without prior approval from the control laboratory of the Agency for Medicines and Medical Devices of BiH.

- If BiH is a state, and today in RS we have Sputnik V in use, and we cannot have it, and the Agency is at the BiH level, it logically follows that RS is another country, Andrea Jurić stated for Buka.

Sanja Čustović, Assistant Minister of Health of FBiH for Pharmacy and Chemicals, clarified the Ministry’s position, claiming that it was not about any obstruction.

- The rules are clear. In RS, the vaccines were procured by the Institute of Public Health and are not intended for commercial use, but for the vaccination of healthcare workers. The import of vaccines was carried out by an authorized distributor from RS who received the necessary confirmation of vaccine quality from the Agency for Medicines and Medical Devices. The same procedure is required for any emergency procurement in FBiH, Čustović stated.

In other words, the Public Health Institute of the West Herzegovina Canton should have found an authorized importer through whom they would have completed the entire procedure. It was mentioned that it could be Hercegovina lijek, which, given that these are commercial vaccines, should pay the supplier for the procured vaccines, rather than the state guaranteeing it. Hercegovina lijek promised to get back to us, but they did not keep their promise, and they refused subsequent calls, citing obligations.

- We have a vaccination plan and we stand by our earlier plan for vaccine procurement, you just have to understand that there is a lot of congestion in the market and it is difficult to get in line, Čustović told us.

Unlike the competent authorities in FBiH, the Public Health Institute of the West Herzegovina Canton showed skill in finding distributors, but their commitment to doing so on a commercial basis is questionable. After the stance of the cantonal government, it is now clear that Grude will not profit manifold from a vaccine that, at least according to media reports, had already turned into a kind of boom in the field of health tourism.
Whether it is possible to use the established contacts to procure vaccines and use them for the vaccination plan, no one was willing to answer. On the one hand, it is clear that federal institutions are much more cautious after the procurement of respirators that ended up in court, and on the other hand, it seems that there is indeed calculation regarding Sputnik V in FBiH, as it has not yet received EU approval. In BiH, no vaccine has approval, but any vaccine that receives a quality certificate upon import can be used for vaccination.