Podgorica Health Center: If she wants to stay, we are willing for Dr. Knežević to continue her work engagement

The Podgorica Health Center reacted to the article "The system was late, the doctor left: Thousands of patients from Podgorica were left without a chosen gynecologist", which was published today in the Independent Daily (ND) Vijesti and on the Vijesti portal.

The text states that thousands of patients were left without their chosen gynecologist after Dr. Jelena Knežević, after two decades of work in public health, left the Capital City Health Center.

We are reporting the response of the Podgorica Health Center in its entirety:

"The Capital City Health Center has 700 employees, of which about 500 are medical staff. The current management has been making enormous efforts over the past three years to revitalize the neglected state of the institution that was found at the beginning of 2024, including gynecology, when specifically there were selected doctors for women, 8 doctors specializing in gynecology and obstetrics. We now have 12 gynecologists, and we expect 4 more doctors to return from specialization.

Dr. Knežević moved from Nikšić to Podgorica about 4 years ago, so patients were not a problem in that city. Upon her arrival at the Capital City Health Center, she was warmly welcomed, which confirms that her transition took place in a fair and professional atmosphere. Now, after spending several years at the Capital City Health Center, where she was partly the head of the department, as well as a member of the Board of Directors of the Capital City Health Center, she has decided to continue her career outside the Health Center and duly submitted a request for termination of her employment contract on June 23, 2026.

Its 6.000 patients are already registered with 2 new doctors, gynecology specialists, so that no one will be left without gynecological healthcare at the Capital City Health Center, and another doctor with a specialization is coming, with whom 6.000 new patients can register.

The system is functioning smoothly.

As someone who has been part of the broader management and governance system of our institution in recent years, we believe that Dr. Knežević is absolutely familiar with the way the system works, in legal and medical terms, and while she is on vacation until July 24, 2026, she has the option to withdraw the resignation request she submitted on her own initiative, and if she wants to stay, we are willing for Dr. Knežević to continue her work engagement at the Capital City Health Center.

"In the past three years, the Health Center has been a transparent institution that operates absolutely according to legal procedures and continuously undergoes internal and external checks. So, even in a case that is unnecessarily used by the media for political purposes, we are completely formally and legally correct," the response reads.