Transplanted patients without necessary medication: Ademaj referred them to the KS Health Insurance Fund, which had already rejected them!

The Management Board of the Association of Dialyzed and Transplanted Patients of FBiH and a group of transplanted patients of FBiH sent a request to several competent institutions for obtaining medication in accordance with the recommendations of competent specialist physicians, i.e., in these cases, competent transplant centers, writes the BiH news agency Patria.

There are about a hundred such patients in FBiH, half of whom live in the Canton of Sarajevo, and the limitations in the Decision on the Positive and Magistral List of Medicines of KS prevent them from using necessary medication.

The Association addressed the Ministry of Health of KS, the Health Insurance Fund of KS, the Federal Ministry of Health, the Federal Administration for Inspection Affairs, the Government of FBiH, and the Government of KS, stating that transplanted patients cannot afford to reduce or skip therapy.

- Placing restrictions or prohibitions on obtaining medicines from lists A and B for these patients is a direct attack on the lives of our population.

The Ministry of Health of KS, in a response signed by Minister Zilha Ademaj, states that the members of the Association need longer use of the medication than is determined by the guidelines.

- The Commission for Medicines is of the opinion that you should contact the KS Health Insurance Fund and, in cooperation with the medical council, define special exceptions and specifics, and enable members to use certain medications during the period when the use of the medication is necessary for therapy, which implies a longer period than prescribed by the Guidelines – says Ademaj.

This Ministry sent a request to the KS Health Insurance Fund at the end of September. However, the KS Health Insurance Fund had already responded to the Association earlier, referring to the Decision on the Positive and Magistral List of Medicines of KS, according to which guidelines for the use of medication by insured persons are determined – for which disease, for how long, and under what circumstances they can use medication at the expense of the Fund – and rejected them for further use of medication at the expense of the Fund.

- If you have valid medical documentation proving that your needs for the medication in question are in accordance with the guidelines and indications from the Decision, please submit it to us so that we can reconsider your request – it is stated.

Lifelong therapy

The greatest threat to transplanted patients is the early rejection of the transplanted organ by their own immune system. Therefore, patients must take medications that suppress the immune response and prevent rejection. Rejection of a new kidney leads to the loss of the transplanted organ and a return to dialysis. For patients with transplanted hearts, livers, or lungs, the loss of the transplanted organ poses an immediate risk to life. A combination of several immunosuppressive drugs is usually used, and the therapy is lifelong.