Total chaos at KCUS: Staff from pediatric wards transferred to adult departments, nurses cry and plead for reason

Nurses and technicians at the University Clinical Center Sarajevo are dissatisfied with the decision of the KCUS management, which ordered that part of the medical staff from pediatric wards be transferred to adult departments, and that the same number of staff from those departments be transferred to pediatric ones, confirmed multiple sources at KCUS for the Patria agency.

Part of the doctors, nurses, and technicians from the Department of Pediatric Orthopedics of the Clinic for Orthopedics and Traumatology at KCUS have been transferred to adult departments.

Doctors warn that such a decision is very harmful, jeopardizes the lives of children and adult patients, and that the KCUS management made such a decision without consulting the profession. Working with children is not the same as working with adults.

Unofficially, experienced anesthesiologist Dr. Zlatko Mehić, after 20 years of working with children, has been transferred to adult urology.

KCUS General Director Dr. Sebija Izetbegović abruptly dismissed the leading European orthopedist Dr. Ismet Gavrankapetanović from the position of Head of the Clinic for Orthopedics and Traumatology at KCUS a few days ago.
Part of the doctors and other medical staff who in any way supported Dr. Gavrankapetanović and opposed his dismissal have been transferred to other departments or have been blackmailed in other ways.

Doctors warn that such a decision by Dr. Izetbegović could have catastrophic consequences.

Working with children requires special knowledge. Nurses and technicians who worked in adult departments will not be able to meet the demands of children being treated in pediatric departments.

One of the nurses, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the Patria agency that her colleagues who worked in adult departments would have problems just finding a vein in children, which could be fatal for the child.

The Department of Pediatric Orthopedics is the only one of its kind in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Children requiring urgent intervention come to the Department. These are children with the most severe fractures or children with the most severe diseases, including cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, as well as children with the most severe anomalies of the spine, legs, arms, and pelvis.

- This is an obvious punitive systematization for all those doctors and nurses who supported Dr. Gavrankapetanović and his team - say the distressed nurses.

- We implore everyone who can influence the situation at KCUS to get involved. We ask for reason to be restored. Things have gotten out of control. At KCUS, no one asks the profession for an opinion. Decisions are made abruptly. The lives of children and adult patients are jeopardized - warn sources from KCUS.