In the past 24 hours, 379 samples for the presence of coronavirus were tested at the Clinical Center of the University of Sarajevo, and 78 were positive.
As confirmed by KCUS, there are 65 positive ones in Sarajevo, six in Travnik and Tesanj, and one in Vitez.
There are 81 patients in the Podhrastovi isolation ward, and two died during the night.
“At the moment, there are 88 patients in the isolation ward in Podhrastovi and it is already over the capacity. Yesterday, we had 19 admissions to the isolation ward. The canton must open an additional isolation ward in the General Hospital today,” Sebija Izetbegovic, Director General of KCUS stated for Faktor.
She confirmed that at the Pediatric Clinic, two patients were placed in isolation.
“The situation in Sarajevo is alarming. Only KCUS takes care of coronavirus patients who need hospitalization. It is unbelievable that neither the Institute of Public Health nor the General Hospital have built an isolation ward since February, “said Izetbegovic, appealing for urgent steps to be taken in Sarajevo Canton to open a new isolation ward.
The price of commercial tests for coronavirus remains 200 BAM for now, because the input parameters currently do not allow us a lower price, Branislav Zeljkovic, director of Republika Srpska Institute of Public Health, told “Nezavisne”.
“The reduction of the price of commercial testing depends on the input parameters, for us the value of the tests themselves dictates the largest part of the price of commercial testing,” said Zeljkovic adding that this Institute reviews the prices of tests on a weekly basis, but that the current input parameters are such that they do not allow cheaper commercial testing.
“The interest of citizens for this type of testing is great, we hope that through new procurement of tests we will be able to lower the price of commercial testing, and in that way meet the needs of citizens,” said Zeljkovic.
Countries in our region and Europe are lowering the prices of commercial PCR tests in order to make it easier for citizens to check their health, but also travel, while the authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina are not yet considering any reductions.
PCR test in the Federation of BiH entity currently costs 215 BAM and in Republika Srpska, 200 BAM, Klix.ba news portal reports.
BiH citizens can be tested in public and private institutions, but only a negative PCR test from one of the laboratories authorized for these tests is recognized for crossing the border, namely at the Laboratory for Molecular Genetic and Forensic Research of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in Sarajevo, the Institute of Public Health of the RS, the University Clinical Hospital Mostar, the Clinical Center in Tuzla and the Cantonal Hospital Zenica.
