Parents of autistic children: Enable them to have dental treatment under general anaesthesia

People with autism in Bosnia and Herzegovina are invisible. The system does not recognise them as a special category of patients. We do not even have an exact number of people with autism in BiH. And there are certainly many of them. It is difficult for us - says for the Bosnian news agency Patria Veselinka Moric from the Association of Parents and Children on the Autism Spectrum Urdas Sarajevo.

This association, and several others in the city, are the only places in Sarajevo where parents and guardians of autistic children can seek help. There are several similar associations in Tuzla and Banja Luka. However, like the one in Sarajevo, they serve more as moral support. Apart from kind words and exchange of experiences, the associations cannot offer more adequate help to parents of autistic children.

Parents of autistic children in Bosnia and Herzegovina are left to fight for their loved ones on their own, helping them with school if they are able to attend classes, as well as with other forms of socialisation. The number of teaching staff who can help in such situations is also very small.

Moric says that children with autism living in Sarajevo and other larger cities in BiH can say they have some benefits, but children from rural areas are condemned to spend their lives at home, without any opportunities that would ease their daily lives.

- I think things could change significantly if there were just a little more will. We have been fighting for a long time for the state to allow people with autism to have dental treatment under general anaesthesia, but no one is willing to accommodate us. That is one, among all others, a big problem that burdens us - explains Moric.

She adds that the only consolation for parents of autistic children is that their children receive home care, because they are classified as persons with disabilities, writes Patria.