Cantonal Prosecutor's Office of Sarajevo Canton investigates the hospital merger case

The case of merging the General Hospital "Prim. dr. Abdulah Nakaš" with the Clinical Center Sarajevo has returned to institutions. The hospital merger process will be halted for a certain period, as detailed analyses that could take several months were requested at today's meeting of authorities in Sarajevo Canton. In the meantime, the details are also being investigated by the prosecutor's office, N1 reports, as carried by Patria.

The background of the sudden idea to shut down the General Hospital "Prim dr. Abdulah Nakaš" is under the scrutiny of investigative bodies. The Cantonal Prosecutor's Office in Sarajevo, as confirmed to us, is also checking who stands behind the documents signed by employees in several departments of the General Hospital, requesting to transfer to the Clinical Center, together with their former director Sebija Izetbegović.

- The Cantonal Prosecutor's Office of Sarajevo Canton is conducting certain checks regarding the aforementioned case. Among other things, the case of signing consent for the transfer from the General Hospital 'Prim. dr. Abdulah Nakaš' to the University Clinical Center Sarajevo is also being examined - we were told at the Cantonal Prosecutor's Office of Sarajevo Canton.

The hospital merger action was conducted non-transparently until citizens raised their voices against the merger, who for days kept vigil in front of the hospital and signed a petition.

Now it is said that the eventual merger of the General Hospital with the University Clinical Center Sarajevo will not happen overnight. This is claimed after a meeting in Sarajevo Canton, where all key health and cantonal government officials were present. However, those most responsible for this case once again avoided the cameras.

Although the director of UKCS, Sebija Izetbegović, wife of Bakir Izetbegović, was at the session, she did not appear before journalists, nor did the Minister of Health of the Sarajevo Canton Government, Zilha Ademaj. Dragan Stevanović, president of the Management Board of the Medical Chamber of the Canton and an employee of the General Hospital Abdulah Nakaš, came out before the journalists.

 - Currently, we are much further from the hospital merger than we were a month ago because we have returned everything to expert analyses that cannot be completed in a day or two. There are also other analyses and steps in a reform direction that can be completed faster and with fewer consequences - said Stevanović.

And what the final consequence will be will be known after detailed analyses for which no precise deadlines have been given. If they are ever completed, they will provide an answer to the question of whether the merger of the two Sarajevo hospitals is necessary.

The authorities assure that even if it comes to that, such a decision will have to be made beforehand by the founders, that is, the assemblies of the Canton and the Parliament of the Federation of BiH. What a few days ago was a concrete case of the General Hospital is slowly turning into a general story about the need to reform the entire healthcare system in the Federation.