FBiH Association of Emergency Medicine Doctors: Get us equipment, or there will be no one to treat you!

SARAJEVO, Patria) - Due to the increasingly difficult situation caused by the spread of infection with the new coronavirus and the disease Covid-19, citizens of FBiH should take the appeals seriously and respect all advice from healthcare professionals to the greatest extent possible.

The FBiH Association of Emergency Medicine Doctors warns the public that they are the ones on the 'front lines' and the first to provide assistance. Therefore, they call on all citizens to be maximally honest regarding all information requested from them.

They remind the authorities that, according to all guidelines, the safety of healthcare professionals comes first.

"We are currently not protected and safe because we do not have all the equipment, but we do this job every day for our patients. As we expect the infection to spread, we are not sure how much longer we can endure this. There are fewer and fewer doctors each day as we are sent into isolation. For the sake of all citizens, especially our children and those who need our help, we are sending an appeal and asking you to protect and save us. Please provide us with the equipment according to recommendations, because otherwise, there will be no one to treat you," warn doctors working in emergency centers and emergency services of FBiH.
"We, your doctors, are here for all of you who need a medical examination, but we also appeal to everyone not to let the panic that is slowly creeping into the population lead to too many unnecessary visits to doctors. This is a virus from the well-known Coronavirus family, and only radical epidemiological surveillance with all necessary measures can reduce the number of infected people," they note.

As doctors have done before, this Association also sends a special request to all citizens with elevated body temperature and respiratory problems who have returned to BiH in the last 14 days to contact their doctor by phone or the contact numbers specifically introduced for this situation, which can be found online for each canton.

"Be responsible as patients, because by doing so you protect everyone else, including yourselves," the association emphasizes.
They ask those responsible for procurement to react immediately and procure sufficient protective equipment for both healthcare workers and our patients.

"First and foremost, COMPLETE protective equipment for doctors, as well as all healthcare workers, is a prevention of the virus 'entering' healthcare facilities. The situation where the virus enters hospital healthcare facilities is the worst-case scenario. We certainly want to avoid the situation where the already decimated number of doctors is 'taken out' of service because one of the doctors gets infected and removed from work now when they are most needed by the citizens," the FBiH Association of Emergency Medicine Doctors added in their statement.