The Kosovo Ministry of Health reacted on Thursday to the allegations made by the Banjaluka24.com portal, which shared the news: „12 BABIES DIED IN KOSOVO! There is no oxygen, a HUMANITARIAN DISASTER IS AT HAND“. In fact, the statement given to Blic by the director of North Mitrovica Hospital Center, Zlatan Elek, was quoted out of context. Originally, Elek actually interpreted the current situation in Kosovo as a „Banja Luka-like scenario“, comparing the situation when 12 babies died during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1992 due to lack of oxygen.
The director of North Mitrovica Hospital Center, Zlatan Elek, said in a statement for the Belgrade-based portal Blic on Wednesday that the central pharmacy is running out of medicine, that the supplies are running low, while also alerting of an imminent „humanitarian disaster“.
At the same time, he claimed: „that the government of the Prime Minister of Pristina’s provisional institutions, Albin Kurti, does not allow medicines to be delivered to North Mitrovica Hospital Center“.
Elek also underlined that on September 30, the license for the supply of oxygen expired, „which the authorities so-called Kosovo are treating as an import from Serbia proper.“
„I am afraid that a humanitarian disaster is imminent, we are afraid of the Banja Luka-like scenario, many remember when 12 babies died in Banja Luka during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina in June 1992 due to lack of oxygen, we don’t want something similar to happen here,“ said Elek.
Transmitting this statement, the Banja Luka-based portal „Banjaluka24.com,“ titled the news as follows: „12 BABIES DIED IN KOSOVO! There is no oxygen, a HUMANITARIAN DISASTER AT HAND„.
This portal thus quoted Elek’s statement, in which he compared the current situation with the one 31 years ago, out of context.
Several portals in Serbia and the region picked up the news piece with this title, rather than the original statement that Zlatan Elek gave to Blic.
Portal vesti.rs picked on a similar title „ELEK: 12 BABIES DIED DUE TO LACK OF OXYGEN„.
Radio and television Nikšić also shared the news with an identical title. This piece has since been removed from their portal, but the URL link remains.
„In Kosovska Mitrovica, 12 babies died due to lack of oxygen,“ reads the title of the portal adria.contentexchange.me.
Kosovo Ministry of Health: Unsustainable and groundless claims
A day later, the Kosovo Ministry of Health addressed these allegations, denying both the claims made in the title and the allegations Zlatan Elek made in his statement for Blic.
„We inform the public that these claims are unsustainable and unfounded, because every request for donations to health institutions in municipalities with a Serbian majority is handled by the Donations Commission, and in no case have there been any delays of any kind. So far, no such request has been rejected,“ the ministry stressed.
Moreover, this ministry claims that, despite certain crossings remaining closed, both in previous instances and currently, medical products imported from Serbia proper are exempt from the ban.
„The Ministry of Health was and remains ready at all times for procurement and any other support that may be requested by health institutions located throughout the country, without exception,“ said the Kosovo Ministry of Health.
How safe are our babies?
By the time this news was published, we were unable to find out what the actual situation is regarding the matter from Dr. Zlatan Elek, despite attempting to get in touch with him for several days.
We also wanted to find out what is happening with the permit for the supply of oxygen, which Elek, according to Blic, said expired on September 30, and whether he has seen or comments on the announcement of the Kosovo Ministry of Health.
We were particularly interested in the safety of newborns born in this Hospital Center.
However, by the time the news was published, no answers had arrived to these and other questions we forwarded to Dr. Elek this morning.
He, on the other hand, gave an interview to Tanjug, in which he repeated, as reported by this news agency, that the authorities in Pristina make it difficult and impossible to supply medicines, sanitary materials, saline solutions and oxygen.
At the same time, Elek said that the last delivery of medicines was in 2021, and that vaccines for the children will also run out, warning that „a humanitarian disaster is imminent“.
He also addressed the license to import oxygen, saying that the company that supplies oxygen must request a license from the authorities in Pristina for three to six months, reports Tanjug.
Other media outlets also tackled this topic. Politika published a news item entitled „Do Serbian babies have the right to life or are they waiting for the Banja Luka scenario„.
Also referring to Elek’s statements, the same media outlet wrote that he confirmed that „the extremely disturbing situation in Kosovo is reminiscent of Banja Luka“.
Preuzimanje i objavljivanje tekstova sa portala KoSSev nije dozvoljeno bez navođenja izvora. Hvala na poštovanju etike novinarske profesije.
