Kosovo Serbs vaccinated in Kursumli

Even inside the health house there is a large crowd. Long lines have been created in front of the living rooms. Nurses watch the registers and try to assure everyone that they will come in line and be vaccinated.

Two and a half hours by bus to vaccinate

92-year-old Miodrag Kostic lives in Laplje Selo, near Pristina. He has travelled two and a half hours by bus to be vaccinated because in Kosovo there are no vaccines. Miodragou is accompanied by his son Radomir, who himself cannot be vaccinated because of his allergic reaction to bee bites and hornets. Yet, he is angry not because he could not be vaccinated, but because he has to go such a long way with the old father for a vaccine.

So there's nowhere in the world to prevent someone from taking a vaccine. There's nowhere! Just us there. We have to come here. We are registered at the health centre in Gracanica, they have organised bus transport and we are here to vaccinate”, Radomir says.

Dad and son have come to Kursumli, along with about 400 other residents of central Kosovo, to vaccinate there against the Corona virus. By the end of the week, about 900 other Kosovo citizens are to be vaccinated, while 700 were vaccinated last week. The patients are coming to us from the central and southeastern part of Kosovo. We get the lists in advance so we can prepare. We work with seven teams during the day. I have even invited doctors to vaccinate”, says DW, the director of the Kursumli health centre, Uranja Petrovic.

Serbia's vaccine organisation

According to Petrovic, that list has taken them from the Kosovo responsible co-ordinator, but they call every day with the assistant minister from the Ministry of Health, as well as the representative of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija.

All these people are registered via electronic portal. We are a health institution and we will provide services to every patient. We also give vaccines to patients who are not residents of our country who do not have Serbia's health insurance. Anyone applying through the electrical portal can choose where he wants to take the vaccine. We haven't returned any patients and we're not going to turn”, the director says.

In question of what she thinks of her colleagues' protests in Kosovo, she answers: “They're probably right. In the field of health services, there should be no discrimination, there should be no work on the basis of the national belonging of patients”, Petrovic claims.

Serbs struggle, Kosovo government guilty

Petroviqbbb says that among the patients coming from the Serb enclaves there are other nationalities. Those waiting in line say there are both Turks and even Albanians among them.

Yes, there is. We've come on the Albanian bus, the driver is Albanian. Many buses have arrived these days, and they are all Albanian companies. In addition, whoever has a Serbian ID may come here to be vaccinated. I am convinced that there are several thousand Albanians with Serbia's ID”, says a man in line. Another elderly man says that he has serious health problems and that his trip has been a hard time. But fortunately, there are not many such cases. Yet he is angry: “would have been much better, of course, if we were vaccinated there. That's how we must cross the border... whatever he is. Here comes a lot of people and waits, it's hard. The guilty is the Kosovo government, because it is prosecuting persons who were vaccinated in Kosovo when a contingent arrived there... Of course, the government is guilty of”.

But, according to media writings, no vaccine has been found in Kosovo's Strpce municipality during the raids by Kosovo inspectors, who sought vaccines coming from Serbia. Media report that the possession of such vaccines in Kosovo's health centres is considered an illegal act, which is prosecuted.

That is why it was decided that citizens from Serb-run countries in Kosovo will come to Serbia and be vaccinated. Representatives of the Serbian government have not answered the DW question if these data are true, but our conversationors say the statements are true.

They are regularly vaccinated against the normal flu, and it never happened that someone came and received their vaccines. I have a lot of health problems every year, I get a lot of medicine, and this vaccine helps me get through the winter easier. We have never had problems with vaccination, vaccinated in our village, or in the vicinity. And now that's a real pain. They could at least place these centers near the border in Merdare, but the important thing is to vaccinate”, says Georgevanka Niciq, who waits in line for vaccine.

She too is a very old woman. For us it's a great affliction, but it's our life, daughter. Now I know that when I come next time, I have to take a little chair with me, because I can't stand up so long in line”, she says with a smile.