An online conference called “Healthcare in the Republic of Serbia following the Pandemic” focused on the Serbian healthcare system occured in Belgrade on June 2. The conference participants discussed current topics worth focusing on for the Serbian healthcare system, how will health care take after COVID-19, the way the pandemic helped us understand the need for innovation, and the way to improve the integration of all three amounts of health care.
The conference was opened through the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vuci'c, who noticed that “a great deal can still be corrected and now we can improve more. He continued: “We spend a lot of money on our healthcare system. Don’t forget that health takes greater than a fifth in our total state budget and now, with all these allocations, it will require up a fourth in our budget, maybe even exceed that and amount to probably 29% from the entire state budget money. Which means that we'll need to invest much more, that we'll have to take care not just in our parents, our elderly but additionally of our children, everyone, actually. For this reason we won't visit that,” President Vuci'c underlined.
The next speaker was the Serbian Health Minister, Zlatibor Loncar who noticed that Serbia and its healthcare system weren't required to experience a situation where patients needed to be accommodated in hospital corridors, where healthcare workers had to select which patient to deal with, whether it is younger or older ones, in addition to determine which patients to put on a ventilator and that ought to be taken off it. Minister Loncar also underlined: “I believe that we've shown and proved that we are a serious healthcare system and that all the investments we'd made and exactly what we've done this far was well worth it. We've demonstrated that everything we've done and fulfilled our vision has yielded results.”
The Vojvodina Health Secretary Zoran Gojkovi'c especially underlined the significance of preparedness for crises. He stated that Vojvodina had the very best result considering all parameters, in the amount of registered cases and in the mortality rate, but additionally in the proven fact that no infected health workers in Vojvodina were infected on the job but instead they contracted herpes outside the health institutions where they work. Also, there were no installments of mass contagion in welfare institutions. Next he said the next: “Not just Vojvodina, but the whole of Serbia has achieved impressive results. Our system responded well and our health workers were well-prepared for these difficult changes which were happening daily. It is very odd to operate such conditions and having to reset the whole health system. We are adaptable people and also have an exceptional feeling of improvisation. Crises like this are just an indication that we are ready to tackle the problems.”
Regina de Dominicis, Director of UNICEF for Serbia, spoke about the type of normalcy that people can expect with regards to children as well as their families within the post COVID-19 period, in addition to what role if the healthcare system participate in the recovery stage.
Dubravka Negre, Head of the European Investment Bank's Western Balkan Office, pointed out the next: “We are glad that Serbia recognized the significance of purchasing the healthcare system over time, because of that your large number of lives were saved in this pandemic. Our institution continues to be investing in the sector in Serbia since 2004. This is the first country in the region by which health sector we started investing. To date, we have invested 250 million euro within the Serbian healthcare system, which was accustomed to equip and renovate 20 regional hospitals.”
Una Ljubici'c, Chairwoman from the NALED Health Alliance, stated the next: “The Gray Healthcare Book is the result of the job that lasted for several months. The book is the first publication of its kind that contains 50 strategies for improving healthcare. Although the health system in Serbia has reacted excellently, there's always room for improvement. We recognized one of the opportunities for improvement within the cooperation between your public and private sector.”
On the occasion, Professor Sanja Radojevi'c Skodri'c, MD, Director from the State Medical health insurance Fund, pointed out: “We came out of this pandemic with great experience and defined goals. Devising technique is very important. We'd to watch the problem in the countries from the region, but also in the whole world. We were able to steer clear of the shortage of medicines because of Serbia having a strong economy, as mentioned by the country's president.”
Bojan Trkulja, Director of the Association of Producers of Innovative Medicines (INOVIA), said: “Whenever a pandemic strikes, there is huge additional pressure on health resources and there's a growing importance of those surgical procedures that improve the efficiency of treatment. This is when innovative medicines are of great significance. Whenever we can prolong the life of our patients, because of innovative therapy, in addition to improve their standard of living, the impact around the individual patient is immeasurable.”
Aleksandar Tripkovi'c, Director of AstraZeneca Serbia, said: “I am happy with the truth that AstraZeneca is really a leader inside a challenging rescue project worldwide and that's the introduction of the vaccine for COVID-19 together with the University of Oxford. The COVID-19 pandemic data demonstrated how serious is the risk for the population with diabetes. The data from the study conducted in Italy, america and also the Uk reveal that between 32% and 35.5% of patients who died as a result of COVID had diabetes. Given the data around the severe connection between the COVID-19 pandemic in patients with diabetes, it's more important now than ever before to use a modern method of diabetes therapy, including timely prevention of cardio-renal complications, i.e. decrease in mortality. This method to diabetes treatment was supported in 2023 by the European and American diabetes associations.”
Dr. Sinisa Radulovi'c, scientific advisor and pharmacologist, pointed out involve regular contact with doctors when it comes to oncology patients: “I would appeal to oncology patients to not delay visiting a doctor because cancer doesn't recognize social distancing which is bad to be afraid of the coronavirus a lot more than cancer. Diagnosis and treatment must not be left for any period when the coronavirus crisis has ended.”
You can watch the entire conference by hitting the link
