New COVID clinics opening in Sarajevo Canton, VTP rule now also in hotels

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - At the proposal of the Crisis Staff of the Ministry of Health of Sarajevo Canton, the Government of Sarajevo Canton today extended the validity of the conclusion with orders and recommendations from January 6 this year, as measures in the area of Sarajevo Canton in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, except for points 3 and 8 of the said conclusion, which were repealed, and which mandated compulsory vaccination of healthcare personnel and the opening of an observation space at the General Hospital "Prim.dr. Abdulah Nakaš".

Point 2 of the same conclusion has been amended and now reads: "Vaccination with the third 'booster' dose against Covid-19 is recommended for elderly persons and caregivers in social institutions for the care of the elderly, the population aged 60+ and persons with associated comorbidities."

The Government today adopted a new conclusion ordering the immediate opening of COVID clinics in the public institutions: Institute for Health Protection of Employees of the Ministry of Interior of Sarajevo Canton, Institute for Health Protection of Students of the University of Sarajevo, and the Public Institution Institute for Occupational Medicine of Sarajevo Canton.

The Public Institution General Hospital "Prim.dr. Abdulah Nakaš" will perform PCR testing at full capacity, according to the capacity of the PCR machine to process 100 samples, with certified results within 24 hours, it was also concluded.

The managements of hospital institutions were ordered to organize round-the-clock answering of phone calls, as well as providing information on the health condition of bedridden patients to their relatives.

It was also ordered that the Public Institution Health Center of Sarajevo Canton establish a functional call center, as was done during the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

"All private healthcare institutions that detect that their patients are positive for Covid-19 are obliged to immediately report this to the Public Institution Institute for Public Health of Sarajevo Canton. Otherwise, these institutions will bear responsibility in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Protection of the Population from Infectious Diseases," it was also concluded.

A novelty is the introduction of VTP (vaccinated/tested/recovered) rules in all hotels, hostels and all other accommodation facilities in the area of Sarajevo Canton.

"All visitors/guests, upon check-in to the facility, must present one of the VTP certificates. If they do not possess any of these certificates, it is the duty of the said facilities to provide visitors/guests with testing using rapid antigen testing," it was explained.

The Government also confirmed the decision of the Crisis Staff of the Ministry of Health of Sarajevo Canton on the introduction of VTP rules in all enclosed facilities at the ski resorts of Bjelašnica and Igman, in accordance with the valid orders of the Federal Ministry of Health.

 The Government states that the conclusion with the new measures comes into effect today.

"For everything not regulated by these measures, the provisions of the valid Order of the Crisis Staff of the Federal Ministry will be directly applied," it was emphasized.