Mesihović: COVID clinics to open next week, serological testing soon

SARAJevo, (Patria) - Rusmir Mesihović, Minister of Health of KS, in a statement to the Patria News Agency spoke about the epidemiological situation in KS as well as in BiH and emphasized that "we are, to the satisfaction of all of us dealing with this situation, in a good phase".

"We have stopped the rapid growth of the pandemic that could have caused a big problem. Things are slowly coming under control regarding the coronavirus pandemic. As for KS, we constantly have a linear trend, which is good. During the next week, we will start defining and creating conditions for opening four or five COVID clinics; these will be clinics that will operate 24 hours a day and will be located in health centers. We have also preliminarily determined locations for drive-in testing. To avoid confusion, precisely, conditions are being provided for the start of this testing," said Mesihović.

Explaining the timeframe and how quickly we can start with serological testing, Mesihović says:

"I think it is realistic to expect this in the next 10 to 15 days, because there are legal procedures that we must respect. These are the institutions that are responsible for ensuring the conditions, meaning rapid serological tests. I am informed by the president of the Crisis Staff that she is constantly in contact with the auxiliary body of the Ministry of Health, and I want to thank them for their good suggestions. We can say that the situation regarding the organization of the health system, which should result in an upgrade in the next 10 to 15 days, is such that the pandemic in every situation has certain moments that determine the direction you need to go," said the Minister of Health.

So, the goal is to open COVID clinics next week.

"They will exclusively deal with patients with coronavirus; only patients with suspected cases, or with an epidemiological picture, or contact will be in them," added Mesihović.

He points out that we are now in a phase where we need to see on a larger sample who has had the coronavirus, but these serological tests will also be determined by experts.

"Neither politics nor the minister determines this, but the profession. First, it will be introduced into the larger health system, then into the administrative system where we had a lot of contact, then among pensioners," said Mesihović.