The Prime Minister of the Zenica-Doboj Canton, Nezir Pivić, and the Minister of Health, dr. Aida Salčinović spoke today with representatives of the Association of Oncology Patients “SNOP” Zenica, which is fighting for better treatment conditions for oncology patients in Zenica and this canton. The focus of the conversation was the construction of the new complex of the Zenica Cantonal Hospital, especially the new building of the Oncology Department, and the financing of innovative drugs for the treatment of cancer.
Prime Minister Pivić informed them that the Government has secured financial resources for the construction of a new Oncology building on 8,000 square meters and that the implementation of the tender procedures has been left to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), but that the town planning approval to be issued by the City of Zenica is still awaited. He also stated that funds have been secured for heating the existing buildings of the Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases Department and the construction of a new energy block with a natural gas boiler room, and that the conceptual design for the new Cantonal Hospital complex is in the final phase.
He expressed his indignation due to continuous obstructions by the City of Zenica, but also the refusal of the City Council to accept the offer of the Zenica-Doboj Canton Assembly for the Government to purchase the existing facilities of the Cantonal Hospital for 16 million KM, which would be repaid by 4 million in the next four years.
– This is certainly a generational project for the healthcare of our canton and we are fighting for the common good, but on the other hand we have obstructions and politicization. I hope that reason will prevail and that the City Council will finally accept the official offer of the Assembly of our canton, so that we can finally resolve the property-legal relations and facilitate the construction of the new Cantonal Hospital, which will have the same capacity, about 850 beds, but four times the area, which will enable us to achieve world standards in hospital treatment – said Prime Minister Pivić.
The president of the SNOP association, Boris Crljenica, emphasized that the construction of the new Cantonal Hospital, and especially the new Oncology Department, is one of the most important priorities of this association.
– The association believes that the current hospital is not the property of either the mayor or the City Council of Zenica, and it belongs to the city and the residents of this city. It is our request, and I am convinced that the citizens are asking for it, to build a new hospital. Our proposal is that if it is to be sold, let the price be 1 KM, because it is in the general interest. If the general interest is to build the National Stadium, and it is a general interest, and to allocate land for free, then there is an even greater interest in building the new Zenica Cantonal Hospital – said Crljenica.
When it comes to financing the purchase of expensive innovative drugs for the treatment of cancer, he stated that the biggest problem is that the purchase is financed from the Federal Solidarity Fund, which, as he said, has not been functioning for 20 years, and the Zenica-Doboj Canton does not participate in its financing.
SNOP Zenica requests that this canton temporarily take over funding following the example of Canton Sarajevo and Bosnian-Podrinj canton Goražde, and that a permanent solution and a realistic source of funding be found through the introduction of additional excise taxes on tobacco and alcohol. Crljenica stated that Bosnia and Herzegovina has earned 9.6 billion KM from excise taxes on tobacco and alcohol in the last ten years, and not a single mark has been set aside for the Solidarity Fund.
Prime Minister Pivić and Minister Salčinović welcomed the activities of this association and announced that they will look into the possibilities for this canton to find ways to finance innovative medicines for cancer patients. They also announced their arrival at the “ONKOS 26” round table that this association will organize in September, on the second anniversary of its existence.
