Nakaš: The Director of the University Clinical Center Sarajevo knows why the mammograph at the General Hospital was not activated and where she redirected the funds

Why now, three and a half years after he was abruptly dismissed from the position of director of the General Hospital "Prim.dr. Abdulah Nakaš", in an open unsigned letter to the public, "a group of medical workers outraged by the work of the Medical Chamber of Sarajevo Canton" is calling out Dr. Bakir Nakaš, is not even clear to him.

He tells the Patria agency that everything he is accused of by the "group" has nothing to do with the truth.

The open letter states, among other things:

- Doctors Stevanović and Nakaš purchased a CT scanner, a digital mammograph, and a universal X-ray machine, which was paid for with a staggering three million euros in Austria, but they did not have the professional staff to use these expensive devices. The mammograph was never used, did not help a single patient, and in the meantime its warranty expired, after which it broke down.

The program for equipping the General Hospital through a commodity loan from Austria was implemented under the patronage of the Ministry of Health of Sarajevo Canton in cooperation with the Clinical Center in Sarajevo during 2011, and the delivery of equipment followed in the middle of the following year, 2012.

- The total value was about 2.8 million euros, of which 2.5 million euros was for the General Hospital. The equipment procured consisted of a multi-slice CT scanner, universal X-ray machines, a digital mammograph, defibrillators, and a navigation system for orthopedic surgery operations. The General Hospital had trained staff for all devices except for the use of the navigation system, for which training was planned, explains Dr. Nakaš.

In addition, our interlocutor says, training for work on radiological devices was also planned.

- The procurement of the digital mammograph was planned with the aim of the future digitization process of radiology units in Sarajevo, which was supposed to follow shortly after the arrival of our equipment.

After installation, all procured equipment was put into operation and produced significant results in the treatment of our patients. The only device that was not put into operation was the digital mammograph. As the digitization process was prolonged in a certain way, the hospital management opted to procure the necessary equipment that would enable the smooth operation of the mammograph.

The equipment was identified, the donor, the Centar Municipality, secured the funds, but the realization did not happen because the new management in 2013, led by Sebija Izetbegović, changed the purpose of spending the funds from the Centar Municipality, explains Dr. Nakaš, adding that the unsigned letter contains untruths, which are very easy to verify, as is the suspicion of who is the author of the infamous letter that "attacks" the Medical Chamber of Sarajevo Canton, and unjustly accuses him as a former director.