Among the employees of the Institute of Public Health (IJZCG), none of the employees are infected, and as they told the PR center, they are proud that despite the thousands of samples taken and processed, they have such a result.
The Director of the Center for Medical Mycobiology at the Institute for Public Health, Ljubica Terić, clarified, in an interview with the PR Center, that five separate departments and two joint departments function within the Center, and 60 workers are employed.
"We have eight specialist doctors, two graduate molecular biologists, one of whom is a doctor of science and four engineers," said Terić.
Due to the coronavirus epidemic, the space and personnel were reorganized.
"Due to the highest workload of the Admissions Department, primarily the Laboratory for Molecular Diagnostics, part of the staff from other departments was moved to help us meet all the requirements. As the working hours of the Reception Department were extended, in order to harmonize with the work of the Call Center, we had to organize work in a second shift and instead of working until 21 and 30 p.m., Terić explained.
The coronavirus surprised the whole world, including Montenegro, but, as she said, we have reason to be proud.
"We are really proud of what the entire state and, of course, our institution has done. And our favorite thing is that none of the staff of the Institute, in addition to so many thousands of processed samples, has been infected with the new coronavirus. We consider this to be the greatest success, and on behalf of everyone from the Center, I say that we will continue to fight to keep it that way," said Terić.
No matter how much the situation seems to be under control, caution is never enough.
"It is routine work for us. We have been working with infectious and potentially infectious material all our lives, but this is now an unknown for humanity and we all have to be even more careful to save us all," said Terić.
Five departments function within the Center, namely the Department of Virology and Immunology of Infections, the Department of Molecular Diagnostics, the Department of Bacteriology, the Department of Parasitology and Mycology, and the Department of Sanitary Microbiology, as well as two joint independent departments: the Reception Department and the Laboratory Kitchen Department and sterilization.
Sanitary technician at the Institute for Public Health, Ana Raičević, said that the people they visited for sampling always welcomed them warmly, and there were, as she added, funny situations.
"When we approach a building, a house, the neighbors come out and ask, 'Who do you need?' And now we don't know if it's a helping hand or curiosity. People went so far as to say that if we took the elevator to the fourth floor, they would walk floor by floor to see where we stopped and who we were going to. There are various issues, but of course patient protection comes first for us," said Ana.
It is not always easy to find the address they are going to.
"But we call people over the phone to tell us where they live. They literally lead us on. "Sometimes it happens that we miss the street, so we come back, but that doesn't demoralize us at all," Raičević said.
However, it is the most difficult when it comes to children, because they are the most sensitive.
"We need to have more patience, but parents are always there to play the main role, to calm them down, to help us," Raičević said.
Ana's younger colleague, sanitary technician, Dražen Vlahović, said that they welcomed the epidemic readily, that they were educated and taught properly, and he is sure that the "youth" made a full contribution.
"They are great professionals. The support of older colleagues, who have more experience than me, meant a lot to me. I am more than sure that not only mine, but also the youth of other colleagues made a great contribution in the fight against the coronavirus," said Vlahović.
Family and friends are proud of Dražen, but they miss him a lot.
"I haven't seen them lately. Most of us were in quarantine. But at the beginning and at the end of the day, one of the older colleagues is always there to talk to us, ask us what we did, if there were any problems. "They always tell us that we should be careful and adhere to everything we have learned," said Dražen.
And at the reception itself, it is necessary to carry out decontamination of all incoming samples.
Dušanka Raičević, the responsible technician for receiving materials at the Department of Microbiology, pointed out that samples are received every day from 23:XNUMX a.m. to XNUMX p.m.
"Regular admission of patients has been reduced to a minimum. Those who absolutely have to come, or those who are a little more "brave". There are three technicians in the reception department. One is at the reception counter, two are for reception, decontamination and to ensure a proper and safe way of samples for processing, for molecular diagnostics", explained Raičević.
The entire process - from reception, processing, or decontamination of samples and the laboratory to the final findings, goes through several controls.
"As for the material, at the very reception we check the patient's data, the referring institution of the doctor who had the procedure done, and when the results are summarized, you will be notified by the Center, which is in charge of providing information," said Raičević.
The job is not at all simple.
"Every analysis that was done went through our hands. The admission department is the bottleneck of the institute. Everything sampled from epidemiology passes through our hands and is processed. Also, it is also located behind the door, where we refer to other cities, to departments and so on 18 hours a day", said Raičević.
The coronavirus has made citizens see what the employees of the Institute of Public Health are doing, but even when it is "peaceful" and when they are not visible, they are always there and monitor other infectious diseases every day.
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