The order was issued by judge Harun Samardžić, with the consent of the prosecutor of the Prijedor District Public Prosecutor’s Office, Sanje Đaković, arguing that the storage of infectious medical waste causes difficulties and potential danger to the health of people who are near them.
“They have been removed from the deposit and handed over to the authorized persons of the company ‘Eko grup’ Banjaluka for further processing for the purpose of their destruction,” according to the court order, reports Srna.
According to the original order of the court, as of April 16, 2021, the vaccines were temporarily confiscated and deposited or entrusted to the Health Center for safekeeping, namely 1,342 doses of the second component and five doses of the first component vaccine “sputnik”.
Nine days after the end of the first-instance proceedings, on December 5, 2023, the Health Center informed the court that the vaccines from a medical point of view are infectious medical waste because their expiration date expired on August 31, 2021.
They also stated that the Health Center is neither competent nor technically equipped to manage, deposit and destroy infectious and dangerous medical waste.
In the explanation, it is added that acting prosecutor Sanja Đaković informed the court that she is not opposed to making a decision on destruction, if the court assesses that there are no other options to ensure the preservation of vaccines by moving and depositing them in another, suitable place, without danger to citizens’ health.
The court then requested information on the handling of infectious medical waste from the Ministry of Spatial Planning, Construction and Ecology of the Republic of Srpska, which informed the court that licenses for medical waste management are held by the legal entities “Eko grup” Banjaluka and the hospital “Sveti Apostol Luka” Doboj.
Dom zdravlja Prijedor handed over unused vaccines against covid 19 to the authorized persons of the company “Eko grup” Banjaluka on January 30, 2024.
In addition to the vaccines, the items that were temporarily confiscated and deposited by order of the court as material evidence in the criminal proceedings, which have not been legally concluded, are a “Beko” freezer, a UPS – a power stabilization device and a mini data logger – a temperature monitoring device.
On November 27, 2023, the Basic Court in Prijedor acquitted the head of the Hygiene and Epidemiological Service, Milica Otković, of the criminal acts of negligent work in the service and failure to comply with health regulations during the epidemic.
The Prijedor District Public Prosecutor’s Office appealed the acquittal, and on November 29, 2024, the Prijedor District Court accepted the appeal and sent the case back for a retrial, which is expected to begin, reports Nezavisne.
In the Prijedor Health Center on April 12, 2021, the vaccination of residents against covid 19 was temporarily suspended, since there was a break in the cold chain in the freezer where 1,347 doses of the “sputnik” vaccine were stored.
(Vijesti.ba)
