When will Sebija Izetbegović's practice of closing KUM on Mondays and Fridays cease?

When the practice of closing KUM KCUS on Mondays and Fridays began on April 4, 2016, and redirecting patients to the General Hospital “Prim.dr. Abdulah Nakaš“ solely upon the order of KCUS Director Sebija Izetbegović without the written consent of the Ministry of Health, no one could have imagined that such a decision would be implemented even after all the harmful consequences were determined, writes the Patria agency.

Well-informed sources with whom we spoke admit that this practice not only increases overall costs (the patient is usually examined three times) but also wastes valuable time for saving human lives.

Although we have tried several times to get precise information from the director of the Emergency Medical Service Institute, Sena Softić Taljanović, on how the patient's path would best be organized, we have not received a clear answer.

She previously stated that the document that will clearly define the path and protocols for urgent care and admission of patients between the Institute, the General Hospital, and KCUS has not yet been finalized. The Institute, in its part of the plan, has separated diseases that belong to family medicine, secondary level A, secondary level B, and tertiary level of healthcare.

Therefore, in practice, this would mean that emergency doctors assess where the patient needs to receive the necessary health service, regardless of the day of the week.

The practice introduced by Director Izetbegović has caused more harm than good, with the majority of patients brought by the Emergency Service to the General Hospital ultimately ending up at KCUS.

A doctor from one of the Sarajevo hospitals, who spoke on condition of anonymity, believes that this practice should be changed as soon as possible. The Ministry of Health, which is leading the entire process of restructuring healthcare activities and reorganizing healthcare institutions in the Canton, is now responsible. However, the implementation of this document, adopted in April this year, has not yet gained full momentum.

- Transporting patients from the General Hospital to KCUS is not a good practice for anyone, least of all for the patients. It needs to be precisely determined when patients can be sent to the General Hospital, and when the Emergency Service goes directly to KCUS, regardless of who it might displease – says our source.

It sounds unbelievable that those who are experiencing all the consequences of this unsuccessful practice do not want to say it publicly.

To make matters worse, the Minister of Health, Zilha Ademaj, stated in October last year that this was a trial period. Unfortunately, no one knows if and how many patients may have lost their lives during this trial period due to unnecessary transportation from one hospital to another.

Stories about debts, savings, and good management cannot be more important than saving human lives. And that should be clear to those who ordered this practice, those who are silent, and those who allow it without any prior written decision.