Elek: Our goal is to build a strong Kosovska Mitrovica Clinical Hospital Center with the support of our state, Serbia

Director of the Kosovska Mitrovica Clinical Hospital Center Dr. Zlatan Elek said this morning that both patients who yesterday became the first to undergo hip replacement surgery at the institution were in stable condition. He stressed that the most important development was that, as of yesterday, the Kosovska Mitrovica Clinical Hospital Center had joined the healthcare institutions in Serbia that would contribute to reducing the waiting list for hip replacement surgery.

“Yesterday was a historic day for our Clinical Hospital Center and for healthcare not only in Kosovska Mitrovica but throughout Kosovo and Metohija. Two patients successfully underwent surgery and received hip endoprostheses. Following this morning’s rounds, their vital signs are stable, and they will be transferred to the Orthopedics Department today or possibly tomorrow,” Dr. Elek told RTS.

He stressed that the most important point was that, as of yesterday, the Kosovska Mitrovica Clinical Hospital Center had joined the healthcare institutions of the Republic of Serbia participating in efforts to reduce the waiting list for hip replacement surgery.

“According to our records, we had around 42 patients. Most of them, around 30, have been successfully operated on at other healthcare institutions in Serbia outside Kosovo and Metohija. We expect that, thanks to our excellent cooperation with tertiary healthcare institutions in Serbia, primarily the Bezanijska Kosa Clinical Hospital Center, we will resume hip replacement surgeries very soon, in about ten days,” Dr. Elek said.

He thanked Bezanijska Kosa Clinical Hospital Center Director Marija Zdravkovic and particularly Dr. Sladjan Timotijevic, Head of Orthopedics at that institution, who successfully performed the two surgical procedures yesterday.

“The conditions necessary for this type of surgery have been created thanks to the Government of Serbia, the Ministry of Health, the Republic Health Insurance Fund and the Office for Kosovo and Metohija. The Clinical Hospital Center has the capacity, state-of-the-art equipment and staff, primarily thanks to the enormous investments made by the state over the past 12 or 13 years,” Dr. Elek noted.

He also explained that all patients who had previously been referred to other clinical hospital centers could now contact the Kosovska Mitrovica Clinical Hospital Center, where their surgery would be scheduled as soon as possible.

Speaking about how the work would be organized in the future, he explained that orthopedic surgeons from the Kosovska Mitrovica Clinical Hospital Center had undergone training with their colleagues at the Bezanijska Kosa Clinical Hospital Center in Belgrade. It was also agreed yesterday that Dr. Timotijevic would continue coming to Kosovska Mitrovica to perform hip replacement surgeries, while doctors from the Kosovska Mitrovica Clinical Hospital Center itself were expected to begin performing the procedures soon.

Elek also said that, thanks to the Government of Serbia, the Ministry of Health, the Republic Health Insurance Fund and the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, the Kosovska Mitrovica Clinical Hospital Center had received a state-of-the-art angiography suite.

“We expect all tender procedures to be completed, including the procurement of stents and other equipment required for interventional cardiology. We have agreed on cooperation with tertiary healthcare institutions in central Serbia, and the most urgent patients who suffer a heart attack will no longer have to travel to other institutions in central Serbia. Instead, very soon—by the end of the year, I expect—they will be able to receive treatment in the state-of-the-art angiography suite in Kosovska Mitrovica,” Dr. Elek said.

He added that over the past two years, specialists from the Kosovska Mitrovica Clinical Hospital Center had been trained to perform such procedures and would carry them out together with colleagues from central Serbia.

“Our goal is to build a strong and capable Clinical Hospital Center with the support of the state of Serbia, because there is no alternative when it comes to the health of our citizens,” Dr. Elek said.