ALL HEALTHCARE WORKERS FROM SARAJEVO-ROMANIJA REGION DESERVED RECOGNITION

ISTOČNA ILIDŽA, SEPTEMBER 22 /SRNA/ – Primary Care Specialist Dr. Milan Pejić thanked the Republika Srpska institutions for the awards presented today to healthcare workers from the Sarajevo-Romanija region, stressing that everyone who worked in this field during the war deserved recognition.

Pejić recalled that healthcare workers operated under difficult wartime conditions, without sufficient resources, equipment, blood supplies or painkillers.

"We had no experience, no anesthesia, we had to somehow get through it," Pejić told the press.

He recalled that at the beginning of the war, around 110,000 residents had no secondary healthcare facility available to them, while wounded people from the Žica Hospital were transported for as long as five hours to Pale or Sokolac.

Academician Mirko Šošić emphasized that all the recipients deserved the recognitions, stressing that a system had been created out of the chaos at the beginning of the war.

"At first there was chaos, but later, through people’s determination and energy, something was built that would function as a system compatible with life. But may it never happen again," Šošić said.

Primary Care Specialist Ratomir Golijanin recalled that he was the first to arrive at the deserted Kasindo Hospital as a surgeon with 20 years of experience, after which the healthcare institution was established.

"We worked day and night at Kasindo, and sometimes my clothes were so covered in blood that I had nothing to change into, so acquaintances would bring me clothes to change," Golijanin recalled, adding that healthcare workers from the Sarajevo-Romanija region deserved the recognitions they received.

Republika Srpska President Siniša Karan and SNSD Leader Milorad Dodik presented awards today in Istočno Sarajevo to doctors and medical technicians from the Sarajevo-Romanija region for their service in the fight against the enemy, as well as for their immeasurable contribution to providing healthcare services and to the establishment and liberation of Republika Srpska.

The ceremony was also attended by Republika Srpska Prime Minister Savo Minić.