Cutting off emergency services at KKUK costs for patients, investigating required

Ombudsman Naim Celaj says such decisions are being made without legal grounds and are posing violations of human rights and freedoms.

The Kosovo headquarters says these hospital services reductions at KKUK should have a plan for where they could be taken.

“needs to be carefully reduced and such restrictions on human rights and freedoms can only be made if they are legally defined. On the contrary, they represent violations of human rights and freedoms and undoubtedly illegal acts of competent organs... It should be alternative to citizens who need healing and hospital treatment and who are not infected with COVID. At no moment should the citizen leave the country without any opportunity if such specialist services are not offered, or in other forms, but covered, and their costs must cover the” institutions, he said.

And the Association of Patients of Kosovo has even warned the investigation into suspending electronic services.

The chairman of the Association of Patients in Kosovo, Besim Kodra, says that the damage being done to patients by closing these services is large enough, even increasing waiting lists.

Kodra says that patients who are being denied these services in public institutions and which they are supposed to receive in private are not even being compensated for by the Government of Kosovo.

“This is the third time that Kosovo's electrical health services are being cut off and that this has obviously caused serious damage to patients and added waiting lists and has created an opportunity for abuse for patients and health institutions to be transported to private institutions. ... We consider that the disruption of health services at this stage by having the public attorney ascertained that this is a violation I consider having to do with an illegal interruption which deserves an investigation because citizens are in trouble by failing to take services from public institutions, but are not compensated by the government for the staggering sums that are exploiting money in private institutions, he stressed.

The chairman of the Association of Patients of Kosovo says state institutions before deciding on the limits of emergency services should offer other alternatives to patients.

“We've requested that these not be interrupted, we've demanded that Government find alternative methods to actually cope with the flow of cases with COVID-19 and other services not to interrupt the reason for the existence of IKSHP and the ministry in general is public health protection, if we have interrupted thousands of operations, professional visits and hospital service and are dealing with COVID is a protection of public health... We consider that there is even space here for a real investigation, as there may also be abuse in providing services to private institutions”, he stressed.

The criticism of this USKKU decision has also addressed Health Commission member Bekim Haxhiu, who says that as a result of these decisions, patients are being forced to handle private clinics by increasing the cost of treatment.

MP The PDK says that the entire health system has already focused solely on pandemic management, and that for 20 months responsible institutions have failed to create specific spaces only for coronary patients.

“The entire health system has been transformed into a COVID system, so in 20 months there has been no attempt to form or open assembly hospitals to provide COVIID services has been necessary to disrupt all other services in particular, the Special Adbulances because they have been able to operate by the term, and there is another cost to Kosovo citizens because even for an expert visit they owe to private hospitals. The long list of expectations, which has been created due to the failure of management and mismanagement, has serious consequences yet later because all of these will go to the cost of the Kosovo citizens' budget”, he stressed.

On the other side Kosova Preress has tried to get an answer from the University Clinical Hospital Service of Kosovo when it could happen to restore electricity services, but also to specialities, but that they have not responded.

Because of the large number of patients who needed hospitalization after COVID-19, from August 31st of this year, neither are the special ambulances that have become centers for treating coronary patients.

During this week, the number of coronary patients seeking hospital treatment has declined. / KP