The situation concerning the procurement of medicines, oxygen, and other medical materials in the North Mitrovica Hospital Center is alarming and critical, but there is still no humanitarian disaster, said its director, Zlatan Elek, in a media address in mid-October that was held during a campaign promoting preventive medical check-ups which were announced the day before by the Serbian president.
In the meantime, Elek became the new president of Srpska Lista, while the Kosovo Ministry of Health also launched a campaign in North Mitrovica this morning marking Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
The mobile mammogram, parked near the fountain on Braća Milić Square, will be open for the next three days for all women who would like to have a preventive check-up. The mammogram was sent to North Mitrovica by the Ministry of Health of Kosovo.
While touring the locations throughout the town searched by the Kosovo Police since this morning, in front of this mobile mammogram, we encountered the Minister of Health, Arben Vitia, who revealed that he came to personally contribute to raising awareness about health and to invite all women to undergo a preventive examination, regardless of their ethnicity.
However, we were also interested in Vitia’s comment on the serious accusations made by Dr. Zlatan Elek about the behavior of the Kosovo health authorities, which Elek persistently made to several Belgrade-based media outlets, especially after the Banjska conflict.
In a media address on October 13, Elek said that in September 2021, medicines for this institution worth 600,000 euros were returned because they did not have instructions in the Albanian language. Also, in September 2022, the request was also returned because „the Brussels Agreement for the supply of medicines has been completely canceled and we were referred to the humanitarian supply“.
„Since then, nothing has entered this Hospital Center. Even when we were supposed to have regular quarterly supplies, the authorities in Pristina let us supply once or twice a year. That is the only truth,“ says Elek.
Moreover, he claimed that behind everything is the „perfidious plan of the authorities in Pristina“, namely, „The emigration of the Serbian population from the north of Kosovo. Because if you take away one’s right to health care and the right to treatment – then you are taking away his right to life, which is a fundamental right as per the UN Charter“.
„The position of the Ministry of Health of Kosovo is the same as it has always been: We, with the highest priority, deal with all donations that come from any organization or from Serbia, so that the citizens of the Republic of Kosovo, regardless of where they live, receive all medicines and medical supplies,“ Vitia said.
Therefore, what is requested and what was previously requested as a donation for municipalities with a Serb population, we always deal with it with the highest priority, he added.
At the remark that the director of North Mitrovica Hospital Center, Zlatan Elek, claimed that the last donation of medicines arrived in 2021 to this hospital, Vitia laughed and said:
„I didn’t hear about what he said. I had meetings with some people and phone calls, and I insisted that they ask for donations. I guaranteed them that it would happen with no problems, that no item would stay longer than an hour at the Ministry of Health, with the highest priority being to ask for donations. Even if for some reason the donation cannot arrive, not because of the documentation – because I personally guaranteed that these items will not be kept in the ministry – if (for example) the truck breaks down, they should just make a list and the ministry will as soon as possible send them its medicines or material, within 24 hours at the most.“
Previously, Elek told the media that there were some problems with the oxygen supply and that the permit of the Kosovo health authorities for the supply of oxygen expired on September 30. For the past several days, we have been unable to get an answer from this institution on whether the license has been renewed.
Vitia now confirmed for KoSSev that the North Mitrovica Hospital Center sent two or three requests for oxygen supply last week, and that the request was approved on the same day.
„Another request for the delivery of medicines and medical supplies is underway. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of medicines and other medical supplies. We are working together to get it approved as soon as possible. Several documents were missing when the request was initially sent, but it has been completed in the meantime,“ said Vitia, who expects that the latest donation request will also be approved.
When asked with whom the Kosovo Ministry of Health is in contact from the Serbian side or this Hospital Center, Vitia did not provide a specific answer, but said that he personally tries to ensure that his cabinet and the Kosovo Medicines Agency are in contact with everyone.
„And I also said publicly, when I had meetings with people, with our friends, I always said to them that they can always be assured and I guaranteed them that every request or list of requests that arrives at the Ministry of Health, if it cannot be provided through donations, I will be ready to send all the medicines we have in the warehouse to where they are needed within 24 hours,“ Vitia repeated on several occasions in a short conversation with a KoSSev reporter on the promenade in North Mitrovica.
For years now, the health institutions of the Republic of Serbia in Serb-majority areas were, in practice, supplied with medicines and materials from Serbia, however, as per the so-called „donation“ rule, that is, the Ministry of Health of Serbia sends these medicines and medical materials to its facilities in Kosovo as a humanitarian shipment. In practice, this model is not part of the written Brussels agreement between Belgrade and Pristina, but a de facto interim solution pending the implementation of a more permanent agreement.
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