Iza Duško Vujošević, a basketball expert, has numerous medals, cups, championships and successes, but also years of waiting for a solution to a serious health problem - kidney transplants.
That wait came to an end, and Vujošević, according to the media, traveled to Belarus, where he should be transplanted.
"The most important call in life" - as all those on the waiting list for new organs call the transplant call - Vujošević met him in Podgorica, from where he flew to Minsk.
The most trophy-winning coach in the history of Partizan will be operated on at the Specialized Clinic for Nephrology, where he has been on the transplant list for two years.
Belarus is the address to which people from Serbia who are on the waiting list for a new kidney are increasingly referred, and that is "Vreme". previously written.
Why do people from Serbia go to Belarus for a kidney?
There are currently about 1.800 people on the waiting lists for organ transplants in Serbia, and the most, about a thousand, are waiting for a cornea, while about 600 people are waiting for a new kidney.
Due to the small number of donors, only a few dozen organ transplants are performed annually in Serbia. Data on the number of transplants in Serbia in recent years are not commendable, but the statistics for the first five months of 2025 are relatively good.
From the beginning of 2025 until May 26, 22 cadaveric organ transplants (transplants from deceased patients) and 14 corneal transplants were performed in Serbia, according to data from the Ministry of Health.
Six hearts, five livers and 11 kidneys were transplanted, from eight donors. In this way, according to the data of the Ministry of Health, from the beginning of 2025 until the middle of April, 36 patients received the organ.
For the sake of comparison, during the whole of 2024, a total of nine donors and 30 cadaveric organ transplants (17 kidneys, 7 hearts and 6 livers), as well as 14 cornea transplants, were performed in health institutions for donating human organs, i.e. transplant centers.
While waiting on the list in Serbia, some patients are looking for ways to go abroad for a new organ. For people from Serbia, the address they go to for a new kidney is usually Belarus.
That country allows residents of other countries to have organ transplants done in their country, for a lot of money. Everything requires several tens of thousands of euros. First, the procedure must be completed and, most importantly, the matching with the kidney donor must be determined.
Ivana Jović from Belgrade needed around 100.000 euros for the transplant and all the costs related to it, she previously told "TimeShe collected them herself through humanitarian actions.
For patients from Montenegro, from 2024, all costs related to transplantation in Belarus will be covered by the Health Insurance Fund of that country. According to the signed agreement, five Montenegrin citizens per year will be able to perform kidney transplants in that Eastern European country at the expense of the state.
In Serbia, the situation is different - the state does not cover the costs of kidney transplantation abroad.
