SDP BiH Health Council: Introduce ban on movement and travel within BiH

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - The Health Council of the Social Democratic Party of BiH demands that a ban on travel within the country immediately come into effect throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina, and a complete closure of borders and a ban on entry and exit from the country for all individuals.

"We call on the crisis headquarters to urgently introduce a curfew throughout the country. It is also necessary to introduce a complete ban on movement for Banja Luka, Mostar, and Konjic, the three hotspots of COVID-19 infection, with one controlled daily exit for grocery shopping allowed for one member of the household. The SDP BiH Health Council demands that crisis headquarters at all levels publish information on the number of available tests for the COVID-19 virus, the number of ventilators, and the status and capacity of each individual isolation facility. Furthermore, it is necessary to put all civil protection units in the country into operation, and to mobilize all available health personnel," the SDP BiH statement reads.

They consider it unacceptable and shameful that, in a state of general mobilization and cooperation, the Federal Minister of Health (Vjekoslav Mandić, op.a.) has not yet established contact, let alone any form of coordination of activities with cantonal ministries of health.

"We expect the entity governments to request comprehensive information from all local and cantonal health systems about the capacities for accommodating and treating patients or those showing symptoms of the virus, as well as about the conditions for conducting tests, the availability of protective equipment for healthcare workers, and other medical supplies. Only through responsible action, transparency, and accurate data on available resources for fighting the pandemic can it be suppressed, but also panic among citizens who feel they are being kept 'in the dark' and uninformed about the real state of the pandemic in BiH," the SDP states.

As they say, in the words of the Director-General of the World Health Organization, they expect authorities at all levels to understand that the most useful measure for controlling the virus is "testing, testing, testing."