Fikret Operta, representative of the Association of Melanoma Patients of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Enida Glušac, president of the Renesansa Breast Cancer Association, spoke about the fight for life and rights in today’s Summary.
“Today we finally had a meeting with the Prime Minister of the FBiH Government, Nermin Nikšić, we are happy that he showed interest in receiving us, to talk about our problems. We have been trying for months to ask him to receive us, we sent three emails a week. We introduced them to what they should already know – we currently have 1,590 patients on waiting lists. These are not only oncology patients, but also patients with multiple sclerosis, cystic fibrosis… many patients in BiH. Of these, 824 patients are waiting for certain drugs, the rest are waiting for certain health services. That’s an enormous number, with a growing tendency,” said Glušac.
She added that the fact that people are already dying on waiting lists is devastating.
“This is the ultimate alarm. The ruling structure should have done something a long time ago. This is not the problem of the new government, but I hope they will try to solve this problem. I hope they will find funds from some other sources and transfer them to the solidarity fund. It is 70 million marks by the end of the year. The number of patients is growing, 150 million marks will be needed for the next year. We have offered a solution for savings to the government. We hope they will adopt it. We will not agree to five million, it is just a drop in the sea, we need 70 million. We fight for all patients and all diseases equally,” she stated.
Operta says that they addressed the Government with two requests.
“One is 70 million by the end of the year, and the other is to solve this problem once and for all, and there is no reason not to solve it. Those who are terminally ill are a priority in the budget. This has not been the case so far. They are only a fifth of the funds that obliged to pay the Fund, they paid. The rest was withheld. One of the good steps of a government was that nothing from the Government could be paid until the pensioners were paid – we are asking for the same for the Solidarity Fund. It is a systemic solution. If this is not done fulfill, then we will go on hunger strike, and then we will ask for their resignations. We included Mrs. Lepić and then she resigned. So it started. This is the turning point,” he said.
Glušac reminds that the Solidarity Fund was established in 2002, and only in that first year, as he states, were the legally provided funds paid.
“In all other years, only 20 posts were paid. The debt of the Government to the Fund reached one and a half billion marks”.
Operta assessed that this political system is killing people.
“That political system puts people on waiting lists and cannot finance them. The Solidarity Fund has no money because the Federal Government does not fulfill its obligations to it. We expect the government to do its job,” he said.
The FBiH Government also announced the formation of a working group, and Glušac underlined that ‘if they thought they would delay it, we will not allow it’.
“Because we need that money – now and immediately. Our illnesses don’t wait,” she concluded.
