Elek: Today it is the most difficult to be a Serb in Kosovo, the Order encourages us to stay and survive

The director of the Kosovska Mitrovica Clinical Hospital Center, Dr. Zlatan Elek, who tonight, on behalf of that health institution, received the Sretenje Order of the Second Degree from the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, pointed out that this recognition is an incentive for all Serbs in Kosovo to stay and survive in their centuries-old hearths, as well as proof that all its citizens are equally important to the state of Serbia.

He thanked the President, the Government of Serbia and the Office for Kosovo and Metohija for the Order.

"This is proof that the state of Serbia really cares about all Serbs, not only those employed in the Clinical Hospital Center," said Elek for Kosovo Online.

He pointed out that CHC Kosovska Mitrovica is the largest institution in Kosovo that functions in the healthcare system of Serbia, with 1,600 employees and almost all necessary services.

The clinical and hospital center is the largest headquarters of the Serbian people in Kosovo, added Elek.

"We can proudly say that all employees of the Clinical Hospital Center of Kosovska Mitrovica not only work in that institution, but also live in Kosovo. This Order of Happiness is also an obligation to be even better, but also to be unique in Kosovo and Metohija, because that's the only way we can survive and stay in those areas," said Dr. Elek.

He expressed the hope that the Serbian people, with the help of President Vucic, the government and the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, will record even greater results in the field of healthcare in the near future.

He noted that the Clinical-Hospital Center is an institution that is open not only to the Serbian people and that it does not treat "according to ethnic, racial and political affiliation", but is open to the citizens of Kosovo.

In that institution, he says, Albanians, Roma, Ashkali, Egyptians and Muslims seek and receive help.

"Our doors are open to all sick people who need help no matter what," said Elek.

He reiterated that for a decade, his institution has had enormous support from Serbia, which is not reflected in declarative promises, but in concrete results.

He reminded that President Vucic promised that the CHC in Kosovska Mitrovica would be renovated and that it would be a counterpart to the centers in Nis, Kragujevac and Novi Sad, which has come true.

"The clinical-hospital center is undergoing complete reconstruction and will take on a new look in a year or two. It is being done in stages and we are grateful for that to the president, the government, the Ministry and the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, without whose help we would not be able to achieve what we are today. We used to be a Health Center, and today we are a Clinical Hospital Center. This is our satisfaction for everything we do in Kosovo and Metohija", said Dr. Elek.

He assesses that the staff has shown that they are ready to do the most humane things, especially in the time of covid, but also every day, through twenty-four-hour work.

Answering the question of how difficult it is to work in the conditions in Kosovo, Elek expressed regret because, as he says, with the coming to power of Albin Kurti, the position, not only of health workers, but also of all Serbs, both south and north of the Ibar, has become much more difficult.

"Today, it is most difficult to be a Serb in Kosovo and Metohija. In these times of great suffering for the Serbs, great temptation, the only thing left for us is to be united, peaceful, with our Serbia, not to fall for the provocations that the authorities in Pristina expose us to on a daily basis. That moment will surely come when it will be as it used to be - that we live in freedom and peace. That's all we want and demand from our state to make it possible," said Elek.