Returning medical checks at border points required

The Health Commission is expected to be addressed at the request to the Ministry of Health to understand when medical teams will be returned to border points, as well as at Pristina Airport.

Even opposition MPs on this commission say the ministry has not announced anything about the decision to evacuate medical teams.

The chairman of this commission, which comes from the AAK ranks, part of the ruling coalition, Albena Resiti, told Kosovo that as a commission are monitoring the work of the Ministry of Health and that they will request from this ministry information on when they plan to return medical teams to the border points.

Resitij stressed that if in other countries even in Kosovo the number of people infected with COVID-19 is on the rise, so if this increase continues, the country's institutions will be forced to return medical teams to the border points.

“We as the Commission for Health and Social Health within the Republic of Kosovo will ask for clarifications of the Ministry of Health, acts responsible for the reasoning that when they plan on the recommendations of the National Institute of Public Health, but also on the basis of recommendations, advisers, health experts provided by the Council of Experts if they have envisioned it in this period of teams that will do the search of all those coming in or out of Kosova”, Reschi said.

While the other member of this commission from the Vetevendosje Movement ranks, Fitim Uka has said MPs have not been informed of the removal of medical teams from border points. According to him, border control is important in preventing the spread of COVID-19, and this is also seen by the World Health Organization.

Removing medical controls at the border, Uka calls another Kosovo Government mistake in managing pandemic.

We as deputy are not informed of something like this, even in Mr. Zemaj's recent report to the Parliamentary Commission on Health has not been mentioned, and I consider that this is one of the next mistakes this government made, in relation to the management of pandemic because you're looking at numbers that are now out of favour of Kosovo. A measure like this has been considered several times by the World Health Organization and other international organisms, as extremely important for controlling the spread of the Cavido-19 virus, and now when we see that in the various states, whether the region or other European states, there is an increasing number of cases with COVID-19, such controls are necessary”, Uka said.

The other member of this commission from the PDK ranks, Bekim Haxhiu, has said there is no report on this issue, but stresses that it has raised it as a concern following the resumption of the number of cases.

Haxhiu says the state of Kosovo would have to make a reshuffle and restore the medical teams, as well as run tests at border points where the result could be received in 24 hours.

“Kosovo should have a better control and set criteria, since it would require an organisation that all entry points in Kosovo be required to citizens coming from these countries. The PCR, or a re-organization of our health system, and the medical teams will also have to run citizen tests, because now there's a possibility that tests will be done on borders, and then within 24 hours they will get the results. All of this with a view not to a new closure because of increased cases. Kosovo is now preparing for the third phase of COVID because that phase of July and August, we consider it to be the second phase, and it is due to the lack of time taking of safeguard clauses from the former Kurti government and later from the Hoti Government. Kosovo's second mass has been giftd by the irresponsibleness of these two governments”, Haxhiu has said.

After the removal of medical teams at border points, Kosovo set criteria for citizens of countries it considers with high risk of infection. But none of the countries in the region are currently on this list.

Health Minister Amend Zemaj said that currently, Kosovo, based on a list of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), has listed a range of states that it considers to be highly dangerous to infect COVID-19.

Spain, France, Italy, Great Britain, Holland, Romania, Belgium, Czechia, Austria, Ireland, Hungary, Slovakia, Luxembourg, Iceland, Slovenia, Malta, Poland, Croatia, Litenstein and Portugal are part of this list.

He said that all citizens living in these states to enter the Republic of Kosovo must master the negative PCR test no older than 72 hours, or should stay seven days in prosolution.

The “Every state that is placed on the list of distribution and risk, the distribution of the infection, is prohibited from entering Kosovo, namely those citizens coming from those countries that are potentially dangerous to distribute the infection according to the ECDC list, without having to follow the PCR test and eventually if it is not proven, and they claim that they are healthy, should go to self-insult until their health situation is clarified”, Zemaj said.