Employees of the North Mitrovica Health Center and other health institutions in the north sent a letter of protest today to the Kosovo Basic Prosecutor’s Office in Mitrovica concerning the detention and questioning of their colleagues. Patient treatment and prevention of infection are not criminal acts – they told the Basic Prosecutor’s Office in Mitrovica, without other details about what exactly happened.
Before delivering the letter of protest to the Basic Prosecutor’s Office in Mitrovica, hundreds of doctors, nurses, and other employees of the North Mitrovica Health Center took part in a protest march to the building housing the Prosecutor’s Office in the Bosniak Mahala.
The protest was led by the director of the Health Center, Dr. Zlatan Elek, the head of the orthopedics department, Dragisa Milovic, and the director of the Health Center in North Mitrovica, Miljana Nikolic.
Protesters carried banners with inscriptions mostly written in English – „Stop the hunt on white coats,“ „Doctors are heroes everywhere in the world, and for Pristina, they are criminals,“ „Why don’t they allow us to fight COVID-19,“ „If it is a crime to cure people, we are guilty,“ „Pristina is arresting doctors, and the EU is silent.“
Two nurses delivered the letter of protest to the prosecutor’s office on behalf of the employees of the health institutions in the northern municipalities.
This letter states, among other things, that the doctors of the Health Center have been „exposing themselves to the dangers of coronavirus for a year, but are courageously endeavoring to take care of and save every patient from this vicious disease.
„They also added that they treat all patients regardless of their race, ethnicity, gender, faith, or any other characteristic „because human life has no price.“
Furthermore, they stressed that this fight is hindered by „the irresponsible behavior of institutions that consider the treatment of patients and the prevention of infection as illicit criminal acts.“
The protest aimed to „draw the attention of the local and international public to the fact that doctors are subjected to systemic violence and actions aimed at preventing doctors from performing their duties, helping and treating citizens of all nationalities.“
„The irony lies in the fact that the prosecutor’s office in North Mitrovica is initiating proceedings against the doctors who treated and are treating the employees of this same prosecutor’s office, but also their family members, friends, relatives, godparents“ – reads the letter of protest.
They called on the Kosovo Prosecutor’s Office to „stop harassing our colleagues and abort the staged trials.“
„To heal people is not a decision, but our profession and any prevention of doctors in performing this duty is anti-civilization and illegal.“
The health workers also sent an appeal to the European Union, representatives of UNMIK, KFOR, and the ambassadors of the Quint countries, asking them to „urgently react and stop this hunt on white coats – doctors who fight for the lives of citizens every day.“
They also called on the representatives of the World Health Organization and other European and world expert associations to urgently react to the „persecution of doctors amid the coronavirus pandemic.“
The protest participants refused to give statements and details about what exactly happened, even in front of the prosecutor’s office when handing over the letter of protest to the administrative worker on duty. However, at the end of the protest, the director of the Health Center in North Mitrovica, Zlatan Elek called for a minute of silence for all colleagues who passed away during the coronavirus pandemic, regardless of, as he said, their religion and ethnicity.
Elek said that they believe in the institutions led by the state of Serbia, i.e. the Ministry of Health, adding that he expects a good solution.
„This concludes our gathering today and we are returning to our jobs, in the expectation that our requests and demands, which are not political, will be resolved and our doctors will be acquitted of unfounded accusations,“ he said.
What happened?
Serbia launched the COVID-19 vaccination program on December 24th, while the first citizens in the municipalities in the north were vaccinated on December 25th.
After the backlash from Pristina due to, as it was interpreted, the illegal import of COVID-19 vaccines by Serbia, and the claim of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic that Pristina institutions were preparing to seize these vaccines in Leposavic, the location of vaccination for Serbian citizens residing in Kosovo was changed to Raska, Nis, Kursumlija, and Bujanovac.
The Basic Prosecutor’s Office in Mitrovica announced at the time that they have authorized the police to collect information regarding potential criminal acts of drug smuggling and illegal medical activities, adding that the investigation has not been officially opened yet.
The Kosovo Basic Prosecutor’s Office announced on January 20th that it is still collecting information on whether vaccines were imported in accordance with relevant public health protocols. The very same day, the Kosovo Office that the Kosovo Ministry of Health inspection, accompanied by members of the police, searched the Health Center in Strpce – which operates within the health system of the Republic of Serbia – looking for COVID-19 vaccines.
„We assure the public to continue to monitor the situation, detecting, investigating and prosecuting illegal activities that may endanger public health and safety, and that we remain committed to ensuring that no one takes advantage of the situation created as a result of the pandemic during these critical times,“ the prosecution said.
The unofficial information that Serb doctors were interrogated appeared last week, but the prosecutor’s office could not confirm this information for KoSSev at that time.
Preuzimanje i objavljivanje tekstova sa portala KoSSev nije dozvoljeno bez navođenja izvora. Hvala na poštovanju etike novinarske profesije.
