Death en route to the „Serbia of Hope“: Momcilo doesn’t have to do anything anymore

Translation provided by KoSSev

By Jelena Zoric

Momcilo Vuckovic from the village of Donja Budriga in Kosovo passed away at the age of 43, on a Tuesday afternoon, in the Clinical Center in Pristina. He suffered a fatal head injury on his way to a rally of the Serbian Progressive Party in Belgrade entitled „Serbia of Hope“.

Momcilo Vuckovic from the village of Donja Budriga died at the age of 43, on a Tuesday afternoon, in the Clinical Center in Pristina. He spent the last four days of his life in a coma. Brain surgery didn’t help. It was too late.

Momcilo’s journey to the great beyond began on Thursday, May 25th, at around half past ten in the evening. It was around that time that he entered one of the two buses headed from the town of Partes near Gnjilane to the Serbian Progressive Party’s rally in Belgrade – „Serbia of Hope“.

Momcilo’s colleagues from a high school where he worked as a janitor, part-time, on a temporary basis, for less than 20,000 dinars a month, were also on those buses. Family members of the late Vuckovic told the „Vreme“ portal that Momcilo was not blackmailed into going to Belgrade, but that he believed he had to go.

„Rumor was that attendance at the rally was mandatory. Life is hard here in Kosovo, we barely managed to find employment for Momcilo and that was only part-time. He did not have a family of his own and it was important for him to work in a team and to have colleagues. Everyday life here is limited to one or two villages, and you have nowhere to go or much to see. People were afraid that they could lose their jobs if they did not go to support Vucic. Momcilo wanted very much to keep his job. He decided to go, he even told us ‘at least I will visit Belgrade and walk around the big city’.“

Local members of Srpska Lista who wanted to remain anonymous told „Vreme“ that Momcilo made the decision to depart for Belgrade that night on his own volition.

„Quotas were already fulfilled. Vuckovic was not on the list. Buses also ran from Donja Budriga, where he lived. Nevertheless, he got on the bus in Partes and before we departed, he said: ‘All my colleagues are going on this bus, let me go with them, let’s check out the capital’.“

Journey to Belgrade

The travelers had two long nights and a day ahead of them. The plan was for them to arrive in Belgrade by morning, and after a whole day spent in the Serbian capital, attend the rally in support of the country’s president, Aleksandar Vucic, and then, under the cover of night, to return to where they came from – Kosovo and Metohija.

An ambulance was also traveling behind the two buses from Partes. Several doctors and nurses also went to the rally. Passengers felt safer when they heard that doctors were nearby. According to one of the passengers from the bus Momcilo was on, he thought that he had a little more to drink (možda: a bit too much to drink?) when he decided to join them on the journey.

„That’s why one of the men said that it would be good for Momcilo to visit his relatives in Nis, we knew that his uncle lived there. The man who suggested that we leave our colleague in Nis also said that he was afraid that he wouldn’t be able to sleep until Belgrade, and that we had a busy day ahead of us.“

Vuckovic’s uncle from Nis confirmed for „Vreme“ that his phone rang around two in the morning.

„An acquaintance from Kosovo called me and told me that he would let me know soon, once the bus arrives in Nis, where to pick up my nephew.“

In the following minutes, a fatal mistake occurred, because of which, as members of Vuckovic’s family say, they will turn to the courts for justice.

Namely, according to the claims of numerous witnesses, the buses made a stop in Doljevac, near Nis, at a nearby gas station, so that the passengers could buy a cup of coffee.

The fatal fall

„Momcilo also bought coffee. He came out to get some air and to stretch his legs. He tripped and fell hard. He hit the back of his head hard on the asphalt. He fainted from the blow. Although he quickly came to his senses, the passengers panicked.“

A witness who wishes to remain anonymous says that at that moment the director of the Health Center from Pasjane was also present at the gas station, as well as at least three doctors in the ambulance which was following the bus.

„They examined Momcilo at the gas station. He had a small cut on his head. Although they were also notified that he hit the back of his head and that he lost consciousness, they concluded that ‘it was nothing serious’. The doctors bandaged his head and said that there was no need for him to go to the hospital, and that he could continue to the rally. One of those passengers objected to what the doctors said, saying that it was out of the question and that it was unacceptable for an injured man to continue the journey.“

Vuckovic’s uncle’s phone soon rang again. According to him, an acquaintance called him again, around 2.15 after midnight. He was informed that Momcilo was injured and that an ambulance would bring him to the roundabout near his house, and that he should go and wait for him.

„The ambulance was speeding, siren blaring. When they stopped in front of me, the door quickly opened, and a nurse got out of the vehicle with my cousin. His head was bandaged. I got worried, but she told me that the doctor said that everything is fine with Momcilo, that ‘it’s no big deal’, and that they must go. She quickly returned to the vehicle,“ says Vuckovic’s cousin, adding:

„They just left him behind. I didn’t even see the doctor. Was it too hard for him to step out of the ambulance? Why didn’t they take him to a hospital? Why didn’t they tell me that he should get a CT scan? I would have taken him, the hospital is close by, if only they had shared one word of concern – my cousin would probably have survived. Why were they in such a hurry, I believed them because ‘the doctor said so’.“

Slipping into a coma

Vuckovic spent the night in his relative’s house, and in the morning, he asked to return to Kosovo. Momcilo’s uncle tells „Vreme“ that he made plans with his cousin’s parents to meet at the „Bela Zemlja“ administrative crossing.

„Sometime after we passed Bujanovac, I noticed that Momcilo’s head was drooping. He seemed to have fallen asleep. A little further away, at the administrative crossing, I met my sister, his mother. We were unable to wake him up, we carried him to her vehicle.“

Momcilo fell into a coma. He hasn’t woken up since. The family first took him to the Health Center in Pasjane, then to Gnjilane, and from there he was transported by ambulance to Pristina. The doctors there immediately referred him for a CT scan. It revealed that he had internal bleeding, two blood vessels in his brain had burst when his head hit the concrete. His chances of survival were already minimal.

„Doctors in Pristina told us that the operation should have been done during the night, that precious time was lost. They operated on him. They tried their best to help, we saw that they were trying. In addition to the coma he was already in, they put him in an induced coma. However, he did not survive. He died on Tuesday.“

Why?

Why did the doctors from the Gnjilane Health Center, who according to the information obtained by the „Vreme“ portal journalist, were in the ambulance that went to the rally and who examined Vuckovic, do what they did, that is, why they did not take him to the nearest hospital? We did not manage to obtain the answer to that question by the time this text was published. We called the Health Center where they are employed several times, however, we were told that they are busy examining patients.

On Wednesday, Momcilo Vuckovic was buried in the village cemetery in Donja Budriga, surrounded by family, friends, and colleagues, who had meanwhile returned from the SNS rally.

Momcilo did not get to take a walk around Belgrade and he never saw Kosovo again. All his wishes and needs were forever lost the moment his head slumped at the administrative line. Family and friends of the deceased are tormented by the question as to why the doctors, who went to the rally, left the patient behind like that. Has the oath to political parties become more important to them than the Hippocratic Oath? Were they obliged to do so? And what „obligation“ is more important than life?

The elderly, who have often seen those thin lines between life and death, like to say:

„In life, you don’t have to do anything. You only have to die.”

Now, forever… Far away… Momcilo doesn’t have to do anything anymore.

Vreme