VIPOTNIK: MEMORY OF 12 NEWBORNS WARNS OF HEAVY PRICE OF FREEDOM

BANJA LUKA, JANUARY 8 /SRNA/ – Remembering the death of 12 innocent newborns and sharing in the eternal grief of their families is the strongest, undying flame on the shared hearth – Republika Srpska, said Minister of Spatial Planning, Construction, and Ecology Bojan Vipotnik.

"At the same time, it is the clearest reminder that freedom came at a terrible price, and that we must preserve it through knowledge, work, and love," Vipotnik told SRNA as he laid a wreath with the Republika Srpska Government delegation at the memorial for the 12 babies during the Republic Day - January 9 commemorations.

January 9 is celebrated as the Republic Day in Republika Srpska, which was founded on that date in 1992 under the original name Republic of the Serb People in BiH.

At the Intensive Care Department of the Banja Luka maternity hospital, between May 22 and June 19, 1992, 12 prematurely born babies died. They might have had a chance to survive if oxygen had been available at the Banja Luka hospital, or if they could have been transported to Belgrade for better medical care.