Parent's House to have secured funding in 2017

The Parent's House, opened in April this year within the premises of the Pediatric Clinic Jezero, intended for children from all over Bosnia and Herzegovina being treated for cancer to be with their families, will not have financing problems for the upcoming year 2017. This is the message from the Government of Sarajevo Canton, Prime Minister Elmedin Konaković, and the Minister of Labour, Social Policy, Displaced Persons and Refugees Amela Dautbegović, who have secured 110,000 KM for the operation of this House, reports Patria.

- As we promised at our last meeting with the members of the Association of Parents of Children with Cancer in October, we were able to gladly direct the money from the savings achieved in this year's budget for this purpose - stated Prime Minister Konaković.

He reminded that the Parent's House, initiated and built by donations from individuals, companies, and the Clinical Center in Sarajevo, has the primary purpose of enabling families from other parts of our country to spend time with their children while they are being treated at the Sarajevo Clinical Center. As such, the House does not have a systematically resolved financing issue; it depends on the goodwill of good people and organizations. Regardless of this, as Prime Minister Konaković pointed out, the Government of Sarajevo Canton is ready to cover the missing financial difference for the House's functioning.

The House for parents of sick children has ten apartments, covers 666 square meters, a multifunctional room with a playroom and living room, a shared kitchen and dining room, a hall, and rooms for the Association. As stated by Lejla Kamerić, president of the Association, the monthly costs of the House, engagement of psychologists, sociologists, food supplies, hygiene products, utility costs, and staff costs amount to around 12,000 KM, and the occupancy rate is never less than 70 percent.

Dragica Raić, a young mother from Neum, has been staying at the House with her three-year-old daughter Dalila since July, every ten days when Dalila comes for therapy. The treatment has been ongoing for more than two years, and besides the convenience of having a place to stay with her daughter during that period, it is especially significant to her that Dalila walked and spoke in the House.

- People here understand each other, there is a family-like relationship, and children feel that, they feel better, they are more cheerful, and daily conversations with the psychologist helped me a lot, I was truly completely psychologically down - are the words of this young single mother.

Currently, the House hosts young patients and their parents from Zenica, Sapna, and Tuzla. The medical team's therapies, as they emphasize, are yielding encouraging results. More than 80 percent of patients successfully complete their treatment. A systematic way of financing the Parent's House's operation needs to be sought, and the funds should be stable and constant. The Ministry of Labor, Social Policy announces that they will actively engage in this process.