JU Health Center KS hires doctors and medical staff, but still lacks personnel

(Patria) - Newly appointed director of JU Health Center KS Abel Baltić confirmed that there is justified concern for the functioning of this institution due to a lack of personnel. We are publishing his statement in its entirety.

"I read the appeal of the mayor of Novi Grad - Sarajevo Municipality, Mr. Semir Efendić, to the Minister of Health of KS for the engagement of a larger number of doctors in the Novi Grad clinics. I am personally interested in the mentioned topic in two ways - as the director of JU Health Center KS - a position I have held for only 20 days - and as the deputy chairman of the Novi Grad Municipal Council. I must emphasize that I agree with Mayor Efendić's statement. Analyzing the personnel situation in JUDZKS, I have come to devastating findings:

- Currently, JUDZKS is operating with literally halved health personnel, lacking more than 90 family medicine doctors, as many nursing technicians, more than 50 hygiene workers, a double-digit number of drivers... and this is for work in conditions when there is no pandemic, said Baltić.

The fight against the Covid 19 pandemic requires about 150 more health professionals on a daily basis. And this situation did not arise yesterday, but was inherited from previous years.

The reason I am listing this is solely because I believe we all have the right to know the truth and the facts. These facts indicate that in some earlier times, strengthening the personnel of JUDZKS and providing quality services to citizens were secondary issues. There will be opportunities to analyze what the priorities were before. I also want to tell you that we have done a lot to overcome this situation in the shortest possible time. In this regard, I believe you and the mayor will be pleased to hear that our residents of Novi Grad and all other residents of our canton will have a significantly larger number of doctors available in a few days - as soon as the registration of my signature as general director at the court is completed, which has been ongoing for about 15 days - who will be assigned to work tasks in our municipality and throughout the canton. To be more precise, more than 30 doctors, 40 nurses, and 40 hygiene workers will sign employment contracts, Baltić stated.

Aware of the burning issue of personnel shortage, as one of his first activities upon taking office as director, he emphasized the engagement of much-needed medical personnel as a priority. With the understanding of the relevant minister and his support, as well as the KS Government as a whole, the engagement of the aforementioned personnel throughout the canton has been secured in a short period.

- I assure Mayor Efendić and all our fellow citizens that we will do everything to significantly improve the quality of health services, as well as working conditions and personnel supply of our institution, which is on the front line of defense of our citizens' health in these challenging times of the pandemic. I am available to Mayor Efendić and everyone else with good intentions for direct communication, cooperation, and information exchange in the interest of protecting the rights and health of our fellow citizens.

And we are not stopping there. I have received a promise that after this "first wave," we will continue with personnel filling of everything that has been neglected for years.

And finally, an explanation regarding school medicine. By the decision of the then Minister of Health, and after it was removed from the European Register of Specializations, specialization in school medicine was abolished in our country as well, so for several years, no one has started or completed a specialization in school medicine. Currently, only 4 school medicine specialists in JUDZKS are nearing retirement. So, that specialization was abolished with a stroke of a pen. And we will overcome that, I guarantee you. It is just impossible to fix overnight something that has been deteriorating for years. Especially during a pandemic.

I wish you to be healthy and happy, and please let's think of each other. We will celebrate when we drive the virus out of BiH, and until then, we are giving our maximum effort, wrote Baltić.