Patients of the doctor of the Podgorica Health Center, gynecologist Aleksandra Vuksanović Božarić, who has recently been no longer employed at that health facility, are asking the director of that facility to immediately reinstate her.
In the letter to director Danilo Jokić, it is stated that Vuksanović Božarić should be kept at all costs in the Podgorica health center and find a way to engage her, because she is an exceptional professional.
The letter submitted to Jokić was signed by more than 335 women, and the list of patients dissatisfied with the management's decision is not final.
"We are aware that the respected doctor Vuksanović Božarić did not voluntarily leave this workplace, nor her patients, which further disturbed us and forced us to ask numerous questions, and we believe that we have the right to do so, given that the institution you manage exists precisely because of us - the patients," said the patients.
The letter states that the decision to dismiss the elected female doctor is anything but working in the interest of female patients.
"Dr. Vuksanović Božarić has been doing her job dedicatedly and extremely professionally for 10 years, enabling women from Podgorica to receive expert reviews of their conditions, close monitoring, professional service, endless dedication, and above all, human relations in the primary health care unit, and for that they don't have to allocate huge sums of money", pointed out the patients.
They announced that they believed that, acting as a result of poor information, Jokić did not know how many serious gynecological diseases were prevented, how many sterility were cured, and just how many pregnancies were successfully monitored and healthy children were born precisely thanks to the detailed diagnosis and comprehensive knowledge of Dr. Vuksanović Božarić. .
"We are sure that you are not informed of the contribution of Dr. Vuksanović Božarić to the preservation and improvement of reproductive health in such a small country, because otherwise you would not have made such a thoughtless, hasty and, above all, insulting decision. We are very concerned that you did not take into account her achievements, that you did not even try to conduct a survey among patients to see the percentage of satisfaction, but you just decided that we all have to accept the change, and start trusting someone else, and we will agree, dear doctor, that gynecology is a particularly sensitive branch, and that trust between doctor and patient is of crucial importance for a positive outcome", the patients said.
In a letter to the director of the Podgorica Health Center, which was also sent to the line minister, Jelena Borovinić Bojović, the patients said that they are even more worried that such a decision is made at a time when the topic of women's rights and sexual and reproductive health is very topical and without prior notice.
"Montenegro is too small to allow the luxury of losing such staff. In the developed world, it is a privilege for an academic professor to want to be in practice, and it is an opportunity that every institution should be proud of. Unfortunately, these kinds of decisions do not gain trust, with these kinds of decisions you cause a rebellion, reduce trust in the system and deny your own statements that you will work in the interests of the citizens", said the patients.
The letter states that a doctor and expert like Dr. Vuksanović Božović cannot even be paid enough, but that he is definitely kept in order to raise the reputation of the institution and, most importantly, to be available to patients.
"As patients who are extremely satisfied with the treatment they receive from Dr. Vuksanović Božarić, we want to publicly acknowledge her, once again confirm our unreserved trust, and provide our full support. We will not give up, nor back down, because there is no reasonable explanation for the situation in which Dr. Vuksanović Božarić found herself, on the one hand, and us, her patients, on the other hand."
The patients expect that Dr. Vuksanović Božarić will be returned to work without delay, for the sake of all the patients who are waiting for their follow-up examinations.
" And let's not talk about patients who are pregnant and who have to have regular examinations, and they want to do that with a doctor who follows them from the very beginning. A new time also brings serious changes. And the changes start from the fact that it is necessary to hear the voice of the patients, because once the trust in the system is lost by the patients, it can no longer be returned. Of course, care should be taken to ensure that citizens, i.e. patients, have their rights and that the entire healthcare system, starting from the medical staff and doctors, all the way to the management of the respective institutions, is solely in their workplaces and positions for the benefit of the patients," they concluded in the letter. .
Jokić recently told the media that the problem is in the legal interpretation of the employment contract at the Health Center.
Vuksanović Božarić is a full professor at the Faculty of Medicine.
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