Eight top doctors and professors request urgent meeting with Rector Škrijelj

Piše: Amra Varatanović

Eight top doctors, six of whom are professors, have requested an urgent meeting with the Rector of the University of Sarajevo, Rifat Škrijelj, due to problems with the exercise of their rights at the Faculty of Medicine in Sarajevo and the illegal actions of responsible persons at that faculty, the Patria agency has learned.

The meeting was requested by Prof. Dr. Ismet Gavrankapetanović, Prof. Dr. Kemal Dizdarević, Prof. Dr. Zelija Velija-Ašimi, Prof. Dr. Mirza Bišćević, Prof. Dr. Mirsad Kacila, Prof. Dr. Jasmina Alajbegović, Asst. Prof. Dr. Nabil Naser, and Asst. Prof. Dr. Sanko Pandur, and according to information available to the Patria agency, they will be received by Rector Škrijelj at the beginning of next week. 

These top doctors from various fields of medicine will discuss with Rector Škrijelj the non-compliance with decisions of the University of Sarajevo's Administrative Board by the Faculty of Medicine. Furthermore, the leadership of the Faculty of Medicine is obstructing their work in the teaching process despite court rulings, as is the case with Professor Gavrankapetanović. The academic advancement of teaching staff who are not employed at KCUS has also been halted. Due to all these issues, the eight doctors are demanding urgent amendments to the Law on Higher Education of the Sarajevo Canton. 

They also warn that illegal contracts are being concluded with teaching staff from KCUS, and that according to the current Law on Health Care from 2010, KCUS does not exist at all, but rather UKCS, which as such is not a teaching base of the University of Sarajevo but a teaching base of the Faculty of Medicine. In this regard, the General Director of KCUS cannot be a member of the UNSA Senate; only the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine can be. Incidentally, after KCUS obtained a seat in the UNSA Senate, Director Sebija Izetbegović has not attended Senate sessions for months. 

Although we contacted Rector Škrijelj for more information regarding the meeting with the doctors, he did not wish to comment on this topic. 

As the Patria agency learns, a session of the Teaching-Scientific Council of the Faculty of Medicine in Sarajevo will be held on Tuesday, at which a Commission should be elected to announce a call for the election of a Dean. The current narrow leadership of the Faculty of Medicine and KCUS, headed by General Director Sebija Izetbegović, wants to conclude the procedure for electing a new dean as soon as possible while they hold a majority in the TSC, i.e., a majority from KCUS, and before amendments to the Law on Higher Education are made. 

Unofficial information indicates that Semra Čavaljuga, who was suspended by Rector Škrijelj after acting unlawfully and persistently refusing to act on the Administrative Board's decision in the Gavrankapetanović case, will apply for the call. Čavaljuga also refused to comply with a court measure, so Professor Gavrankapetanović has still not been reinstated in the teaching process at the Faculty of Medicine, although his employment has been formally reestablished.