Clinical Center of the University of Sarajevo (KCUS). The diagnosis reads: acting director, waiting for the competition to be announced. Services questionable. Staff dwindling. Working conditions are difficult. Waiting lists and politics. The anamnesis done by Emina Smajlovic.
KCUS – the largest and most important healthcare institution in the country, a bastion of knowledge and expertise. For many, the first address when health is impaired. At least that’s how it should be. The reality, however, is different. The case of infected babies at the Clinical Center is a story that has resonated among citizens. Several babies who were placed at the Clinical Center due to a systemic infection were transferred out of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). According to the parents, the intrahospital infection appeared after the babies were discharged from the maternity ward, and it is purulent meningitis, which can leave lasting consequences on the brain. The leadership of KCUS did not procure the necessary endoscope, which would have helped in the treatment. The Cantonal Administration for Inspection Affairs soon responded.
“On January 23rd, 2025, at 2:50 p.m., information was received via official email from the Public Health Institute of Canton Sarajevo (CS) about a suspected outbreak at the KCUS, due to suspicion that three babies were infected under hospital conditions with the bacteria Enterobacter cloacae, and had symptoms of sepsis and meningitis, which was determined based on received Reports of Hospital Infections,” stated the Cantonal Administration for Inspection Affairs of CS.
From the Clinical Center, however, a denial. The infection is not intrahospital:
“At the Clinic for Gynecology and Obstetrics of KCUS, no type of bacteria was found. As a result of the submitted reports, an inspection was carried out by the Sanitary, Health, and Pharmaceutical Inspection and the Food Inspection of CS, in response to whose inquiry we analyzed each individual patient, submitted the sanitary booklets of employees, records of cleanliness maintenance, as well as minutes on undertaken measures to improve the epidemiological situation (meetings, staff education). All suggestions we receive from the Inspectorate, we will fully implement.”
The infection is not the only problem. There are many others that patients feel on their own skin every day:
“I get the impression that there aren’t adequate doctors for treating certain diseases. The wait is long. I came this morning at half past eight and now I’m done. It’s not their fault; there aren’t even devices.”
“I’m satisfied with the services, but the system itself doesn’t offer satisfaction to patients. If we have to wait five months for a heart ultrasound or another check-up, that’s not good. And there are few doctors, so they can’t work faster.”
“We wait a long time for check-ups. I’m speaking from my wife’s experience. She was urgently scheduled for an MRI, they said it was urgent. I went down and asked. They said four months. And I said, what if it wasn’t urgent? They said then from six months to a year. We bring our own medication.”
To these claims as well, another denial from the Clinical Center. Everything is done in accordance with the law.
“The claims that KCUS lacks the necessary disposable medical equipment and medicines are also untrue. Procurement is regularly conducted, in accordance with the existing Public Procurement Law, and based on the expressed needs of our clinics. No clinic has indicated a lack of necessary medical and hygiene equipment, nor medicines. The KCUS Clinical Pharmacy is regularly supplied, and the Clinics requisition medicines as needed,” stated KCUS.
However, not everyone at the Clinical Center is satisfied with its work. There are also those who are aware of the shortcomings. Still, their voices, it seems, remain background noise.
“I would have long ago changed all those people up there and given others the chance to lead, because it’s obvious – both 2023 and 2024 and now 2025 – we’re still waiting for the report to see how much we’ll again be in deficit regarding those pharmacies. No one should have to bring paracetamol, apaurin, bandages, or bed sheets. And in various administrative departments, they’re not doing their jobs properly, and we get situations where bed sheets aren’t changed, they’re torn, the food is not up to standard, and we as the Management Board get a report saying all of that is fine,” says KCUS Management Board member Jasmin Sutkovic.
“The same problem still exists – lack of staff in certain clinics, non-compliance with collective agreements, non-payment of overtime. The same picture as before, but according to the information, it’s getting worse and worse. A bigger gap and more deficits are being created,” warns Senad Sadikovic, president of the Health Workers’ Union of CS.
“Two nurses for 25-30 patients is really hard to manage. Put yourself in the patient’s position. Every patient needs to be given therapy and be fed. A large portion of these patients are immobile. That’s why I repeat, we have a workforce that is worn out,” said Fuad Foric, president of the Basic Trade Union Organization of KCUS.
While the problems pile up, the endless saga continues about the appointment of the general director of the KCUS. Institutions deal with form, and politics with seats – content, responsibility, and health remain unsigned. And the KCUS, instead of being a place of salvation, becomes a symbol of systemic impotence.
