There's a shortage of soap and sheets on QKUK

This view saw the Radio Free Europe team in several patient rooms at the Kosovo University Clinical Centre (QKUK).

REL stayed there two days in the second half of November.

And if you go to the bathroom in the carriage, you can't get in because the doors are tight. There's no paper, no soap... We must buy” ourselves, said a patient lying in the orthopedic department of this clinic.

Some members of the staff, who did not want to be identified, admitted that there are shortages of items that are necessary, and said they make it difficult for them.

“We don't have soap, nor linen”, said a nurse.

There must be sheets... [Patients] have leaks of dream, urinary bags... There's no way to store a sheet, when the patient has that entire drain”, she said.

In the same day, REL also visited the Pulmology Clinic in CKUK, where several rooms without a similar situation.

When we came here, the bed was without a pillow and a coverless”, said the Dragusha flower, which was looking after her mother lying in this clinic.

We've been told we should bring them home. We didn't know how it went and we brought it”, she said.

Pulmology Clinic Chief Nurse Dafina Ramaj denied these claims.

If one of the patients wants to have their own sheets, they can bring them in, but they must be white. Otherwise we're sufficiently supplied to”, Ramaj told the REL.

In mid-November, the Food and Veterinary Agency (AUV) responsible for different Sanitary inspections in Kosovo ordered the closure of several KKUK spaces because, as it said, the non-fulfillment of hygienic-sanitary conditions. “These spaces are closed: Physiatrics Clinic, two Dermavenerology Clinic rooms and ophthalmology department”, confirmed AUV's Sanitary Inspectorate for REL.

Their services have been delivered to other clinics until conditions in closed spaces improve.

According to AUV, several QKUK clinics also have <x0mage of hot water and personal hygiene tools” things that the REL team itself observed.

As measures for raising hygiene levels, The AUV, among other things, requested that visitors in KKUK's space be managed and that hot water be provided where it is missing.

From the Kosovo Clinical and University Hospital Service (SHSKUK) > the institution responsible for managing activities and acquisitions at QKUK ) gave no direct answer to the question why the hygiene situation in this institution is such.

The QKUK procurement sector has initiated procedures for food with hygienic material, for the needs of clinics and sectors within the KKUK, including paper for hands, toilet paper 100% white cellulose and hand jars for crayon”, the USKK General Directorate said in a written response sent to Radio Free Europe.

She gave no details when these supplies are expected to be completed.

A private company is also engaged to clean clinics at QKUK, which confirmed that the duty only has “to remove waste from the “and “clearing floors and windows”.

A lack of hygiene because of infections

Health professionals warn that lack of hygiene also leads to internal infection.

“The risk of showing infections is possible”, says about REL chairman of the Association of Infectologists of Kosovo Hamdi Ramadani.

“Infections can also present major problems for health staff”, he adds.

To minimize such risks, Ramadani says Sanitarian controls must be added.

In late 2021, Radio Free Europe reported on the case of Remzi Rasica, in the town of Vushtrri, who has said that because of an infection taken at the Orthopeda Clinic, he lives on amputated feet.

An earlier report by the CKUK's Internal Infection Control Team found that 356 patients were infected in various clinics in this institution during 2020.

According to the report, one of the most frequent infections is sepsa, which spreads through blood and can cause long - term damage to lungs and other organs.

Disrespecting hygienic measures was said to be one of the main reasons for this.

REL reported earlier on overcrowding QKUK clinics with family caregivers.

The leaders of some clinics have acknowledged that in the absence of nursing staff, they need the help of their families but not a large number of them.

In September, the Government of Kosovo has announced it has formed the Executive Commission for Health, whose responsibilities are said to include the development of the public health sector.

There is not yet any official information about the possible achievements of this commission.

Kosovo is with the duty of minister of health since October, when Minister Rifat Latifi has resigned.