Association “Snaga žena” Maglaj, which brings together women suffering from malignant diseases, has 35 members, while more than 100 of them support the Association.
Like the majority of oncology patients in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the members of this Association fight on two fronts – the one with the disease and the health system.
The association helps as much as it can
According to Bahra Bradarić, the president, the Association receives 2,000 KM annually from the municipality.
– We receive the money in four installments of 500 marks each, and that is all the help our sick women get from the state. We also have an annual membership fee that costs five KM and if someone else pays a donation, which is generally low – points out Bradarić.
In order to help the members, the Association organizes a bazaar, where mostly the handicrafts of the members are sold.
– With the money we collect, we help members who have to go for examinations in Zenica, Sarajevo, Mostar. Recently, one was supposed to go for PET/CT in Mostar, but in the end she went to Sarajevo. It is an expensive examination, so the Association helped as much as it could. They would like it the most if we could pay the entire amount, but we must not run out of money, because a member needs 100 marks tomorrow to go for an examination in Zenica – explains Bradarić.
One examination costs 400 KM
Due to the health system in the country, according to Bradarić, most women go to private institutions for examinations.
– We in the Association have women who have suffered from various types of malignant diseases, and we all know that cancer does not wait. That’s why we are forced to go to a private doctor for most of the examinations, and that costs a lot, because you will pay 300 or 400 KM for just one examination. Waiting lists are too long in public healthcare institutions. Believe me, we have cases where women call for days, sometimes for two or three months, to schedule a follow-up examination, but no one answers. Once you manage to schedule it, it doesn’t matter if it’s a CT scan or an MRI, you’ll be waiting months for an appointment. It is agony and of course every oncology patient will either pick up chalk, if he can, or ask for help to go to a private doctor, in order to prolong his life. In our Association, most women are mothers who need their children – says Bradarić.
He says that on several occasions they also approached the competent health authorities in the Zenica-Doboj Canton (ZDK), but they did not receive concrete help.
– We wish that our competent authorities from the top start solving problems in healthcare, because everyone needs it. As we hear, there is money, it just needs to be distributed properly, because not everyone is able to go outside for treatment – said Bradarić, writes Faktor
