June 9, 2020 - Danilo Jokić reacted on behalf of the Medical Team of United Montenegro to yesterday's statement of the Minister of Health Kenan Hrapović. In his response to the Minister of Health of Serbia Zlatibor Lončar, among other things, Hrapović said he would not allow attacks on Montenegrin health workers. According to Jokić, doctors were confused but not surprised, as they say, with the amount of hatred and insults that Hrapović, as the line minister who "unfortunately represents both the state and us", expressed at the expense of his colleagues from Serbia.
Hrapović: First man of Serbian Health Insulting and Belittling Because Unable to Do Otherwise
The Minister of Health, Kenan Hrapović, reacted to yesterday's statement of the Minister of Health of Serbia, Zlatibor Lončar, who said that there was no sense in explaining anything to Montenegro, because there were no results or indeed any knowledge about coronavirus.
"While we are waiting for the vaccine that, as Mr. Loncar said earlier, "Serbian experts can produce against coronavirus," Montenegrin medical professionals have taken a series of strategic, timely and decisive steps that have resulted in delaying the introduction of coronavirus to Montenegro," Hrapović said in his statement.
He added that is indeed knowledge that has led to us being the first country in Europe without COVID-19 infections, and that the result of all the measures implemented is the end of the epidemic in Montenegro.
"We are sure that Mr. Loncar knows that, but we understand his need to attack Montenegro again and use insults, during the campaign in Serbia, to move the professional and epidemiological story to the political field," Hrapovic said.
He added that he would not allow insulting of our health workers and undermining results, "no matter how much it bothered Mr. Loncar, and no matter how hard he tried to call them into question by presenting untruths and making sweeping judgements."
"From "shopping specialists", through "experts in concealing information and instilling fear", our neighbours from Serbia, more precisely the first man of health, is now going a step further in his well-recognized manner of insulting and belittling because he doesn't seem to be able to do otherwise," Hrapović said.
Hrapović claims that all relevant international institutions, primarily those dealing with health, have given due recognition to Montenegro for its successful preparation and response to COVID 19.
Jokić: Hrapović Unfortunately Represents All of Us
Doctors were confused but not surprised by the extent of the hatred and insults that Hrapović, as the line minister who "unfortunately represents both the state and ourselves", expressed at the expense of his colleagues from Serbia, read the statement of the Medical Team of United Montenegro.
"Have you really allowed yourself the luxury, as an economist and not a very well-known member of the Government, to explain to the Serbian Minister of Health, a surgeon nonetheless, some specialist information from the profession? This is something we hadn't seen up until now," the statement said.
Jokić emphasized that doctors do not agree with the medical section of Minister Loncar's statement, but, as they said, they also reject Hrapović's cynicism "which aims to humiliate medical science in a country where 90% of Montenegrin doctors have learned everything they know about medicine."
"The vaccine produced there would be experienced as ours, Mr. Minister, because we are the closest, and the neighbour's success is also personal if someone is honest," the statement said.
"They most probably taught you that a long time ago. It would be better to ask yourself, are we not in a position to produce a single medical mask that even surgeons didn't have at the beginning of the pandemic? We all know about this, and we also remember it well. For you personally, there was no shortage of those masks, "Jokić said in a statement.
According to Jokić, while Montenegrin doctors were risking their lives, Hrapović, together with some of the doctor-politicians from the National Coordination Team for Infectious Diseases, announced the imminent arrival of equipment.
"And when you declared us a corona-free state, everything arrived. You then forced us to buy those same masks together with citizens for going to the markets, and there were not enough of them in the operating rooms during the epidemic. Was this so that the import lobbies don't lose their profits?" I guess it's clear now that that was the reason," says Jokić.
He pointed out that the Minister of Health was not allowed to be cynical.
"Unfortunately, you have shown many times that this could be your nickname. Do you not wonder where Montenegrin doctors went directly after they were helped at home in Montenegro? Not to Germany, Slovenia, or the Netherlands. No, they can't enter there from a Corona-free state. They all went to further education in the country whose eminent experts you call: 'shopping specialists, masters of concealing information, fear-mongers'," the statement said.
Jokić told Hrapović not to defend the medical workers.
"If you had ever understood what health care is and what medical science is, you would never have said something of that kind. On behalf of us doctors who express their political views through United Montenegro, never forgetting that we are first and foremost medical workers, I call on you not to defend us. Harsh words can be met with a harsh response, but in the world of science, you have to have the qualifications; either you have the qualifications, or you keep quiet. Is it possible that you even think about how we have forgotten your bragging from then on? You sent over two hundred young people in praise at the end of May, students, by plane to a country which had, as you put it, lost the battle with COVID-19? Did you send them as a minister to a country at risk of infection? "Jokic asks, adding that Hrapović should be held accountable in court.
"Now you don't let them come back. It's cynicism, beyond cynicism. Ask them, they'll answer you. They agree neither with your assessments, nor with the hermetically sealed border over which you exported them. The function you didn't deserve will disappear, yet we doctors will continue to exchange experiences with colleagues from Serbia at congresses, learn from each other's mistakes, and look for the best solutions. Your function is binding, but only on the condition that you know this and are worthy of it. You should be obliged to reconcile, expand cooperation, to talk and understand, even those who do not understand you," the statement said.
"Never defend us again, because neither do you deserve to do it, not are you able. You are not even able to defend yourself," Jokić concluded.
Source: Vijesti Online
