The Institute of Public Health registered 2.805 new infections until yesterday, and one person died as a result of covid-19.
According to IJZ data, 7.795 people were tested, so the share of new positives is 35,98 percent.
By 15 p.m., the recovery of 558 patients was reported.
The number of currently active cases is 16.869, and the highest number are in Podgorica - 8.181, Nikšić (1.595), Bar (981), Kotor (949), Budva (779), Cetinje (729), Tivat (631), Berane (568). ), Herceg Novi (530),...
Popović Samardžić: Dismissal due to resistance to censorship; Galić: We have more serious situations than personnel issues
The Basic State Prosecutor's Office in Kotor, ex officio, formed a case regarding allegations in the media that a doctor working in the Kovid clinic of the Budva Health Center was ordered to self-isolate due to a positive test for the coronavirus.
This is what the spokeswoman told Televizije Vijesti Ana Marinović, stating that the collection of all relevant data is underway, after which a decision on further action will be taken.
Yesterday, the Ministry of Health told "Vijesta" that they said everything they had two days ago - everyone involved in this omission will be sanctioned.
So far, the sanction has been confirmed only for the epidemiological one Milena Popović Samardžić, which is the director of IJZ Igor Galić dismissed from the position of head of the Department for immunoprophylaxis, preparation and control of passengers in international traffic. As he previously announced, he did this because "one of the reasons is the situation that happened in Budva". He also claimed that he "sees criticism as constructive and well-intentioned, so that is not the reason".
Popović Samardžić announced yesterday that she was fired precisely because she "resisted the censorship introduced by the director of the IJZ".
Galić said in a statement to "Vijesta" that he does not want to comment on that, as well as the information spread by some media that he allegedly appointed his godfather as the acting head of the Immunoprophylaxis Department. Adis Martinović.
"At the Institute, we have more serious situations than personnel issues. Personnel changes are something that happens all the time", Galić said briefly to "Vijesti".
In connection with the event in Budva, Popović Samardžić announced that "she never stopped her self-isolation to her colleagues".
"I never sent a request to the sanitary inspector to end the doctor's isolation. Also, I had insight into the statement that my colleague gave, in which she clearly states that I referred her to the competent epidemiologist. I had an exchange of professional opinion with the epidemiologist doctor at DZ Budva, not with the sanitary inspector, in which I referred to the new CDC recommendations and the shortening of the isolation period. Therefore, the exchange of expert opinion cannot be and is not the abolition of isolation. The day after that opinion, the IJZ started drafting new recommendations in Montenegro," she points out.
Popović Samardžić also said that the real reason for the dismissal "was presented to the meeting by the director of the IJZ, Igor Galić, and it is not the situation in Budva".
"As the director said, I violated the procedures because I was a guest on the morning program of TV Vijesti without his consent and expressed the criticism and opinion that I presented a few days earlier at the working group, as he says, also without his consent," said Popović Samardžić.
She says that for months she has been dissatisfied with her criticism, which is why journalists' requests for her guest appearances have been rejected.
According to her, "it is clear that the health authorities only needed an excuse for something they have wanted for a long time".
"Not my dismissal, but a demotion, personal and professional. I've never been interested in functions and I've turned them down so far. I moved from the position of head of the hospital to the position of head of the IJZ. And that with only one intention, to help my colleagues do some good things for the health of the citizens of Montenegro. I am still committed to that goal, and no position is needed for that," concluded Popović Samardžić.
NGO: Voice of reason and the highest epidemiological standards
The dismissal of Popović Samardžić was condemned yesterday by non-governmental organizations and civil activists.
HRA Executive Director Tea Gorjanc-Prelevic she sent a letter to the Minister of Health yesterday Jelena Borovinić Bojović, in which she appealed to the minister to convene a session of the Board of Directors of the IJZ, where the reasons for the dismissal of Popović Samardžić would be reviewed.
"Dr. Popović Samardžić continuously represents the voice of reason and advocacy for the uncompromising application of the highest epidemiological standards. Suppressing that voice does not benefit health or the necessary dialogue about its protection in Montenegro," Gorjanc-Prelević pointed out in the letter.
Epidemiologist Popović Samardžić, HRA reminds, recently publicly pointed out that, in her opinion, the measures to protect against the coronavirus in Montenegro are insufficiently serious.
Civic activist and ornithologist Darko Saveljic he said that Montenegro must be freed from the "shackles of single-mindedness".
"You don't think with your manager's head, you express your opinion publicly and because of that you are removed from your workplace. It doesn't work that way... Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 19 says: Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression, which includes the right not to be harassed because of his opinion... Montenegro must free itself from the shackles of single-mindedness. Urgent. Or the darkness will eat us," he wrote on Facebook.
"Nepotism, cronyism or revanchism of the Ministry of Health? "Was Milena Samardžić fired so that the 'godfather' could get a job or because she expressed her opinion on 'half-measures' to fight against covid", MANS commented on Twitter.
The members of the Assembly and the Main Board of the Union of Doctors of Medicine said that they strongly oppose the attempt to censor and introduce retaliation for freely spoken words, which, as they point out, "we witness with the example of the treatment of the director of the Institute of Public Health towards Dr. Popović Samardžić".
The statement also states that the director of the IJZ "in order to hide his sensitivity to criticism and suggestions, which in the end, as it turns out, were for the benefit of all citizens of this country, used spin and faked the story about the end of the doctor's isolation to the media from DZ Budva, for which Popović blames Samardžić, while the doctor from Budva clearly says that these allegations have nothing to do with the truth".
"As we can see, the truth is not Dr. Galić's favorite tool, and he does not like to hear it from other people either, and therefore acts in the direction of punishing those who speak it... This is a clear message of intimidation for all doctors, a message that reads 'don't dare to think, let alone say what you think, otherwise you can wake up tomorrow and read how we are trying to smear your name in the media, devalue your work, and we can leave you without a job, and bring fear for your family's existence'.. .”, the doctors state in a statement, adding that this is “an attack on all doctors”.
Bonus video:
