Death on the way to the "Serbia of Hope": Momčilo doesn't have to do anything anymore

Momčilo Vučković from the village of Donja Budriga died at the age of 43, on Tuesday afternoon, in the Clinical Center in Pristina. He spent the last four days of his life in a coma. Brain surgery didn't help. It was too late.

Momčil's journey into infinity began on Thursday, May 25, around half past ten in the evening. Around that time, he entered one of the two buses that were headed from the town of Parteš near Gnjilan to the meeting of the Serbian Progressive Party in Belgrade called "Serbia of Hope".

On those buses were also Momcil's colleagues from a high school where he worked as a janitor, part-time, on a fixed-term basis, for less than 20 dinars a month. Family members of the late Vučković told the "Vremena" portal that Momčilo was not blackmailed into going to Belgrade, but that he thought he had to.

"It was said that the meeting had to be attended. It's hard to live here in Kosovo, we barely hired Momcilo and that's part-time. He did not start his own family and it was important for him to work in a team and to have colleagues. Life here is reduced to one or two villages, and you have nowhere to go or much to see. There was a fear among people that they could lose their jobs if they did not go to support Vučić. Momcilo wanted very much to keep his job. He himself decided to go, he even told us 'at least I'm going to see Belgrade for a bit and walk around the big city'."

Local members of the Serbian List who wanted to remain anonymous for "Vreme" also say that Momčilo made the decision to leave for Belgrade that night.

"The quotas were already met. Vučković was not on the list. Buses also left from Donja Budriga, where he lived. Nevertheless, he got to the bus in Partes and before leaving he said 'all my schoolmates are going on this bus, let me go with them, let's see what's around the capital'."

Road to Belgrade

The travelers had two long nights and a day ahead of them. It is planned that they will arrive in Belgrade by the morning, that after the whole day spent in the Serbian capital, they will be at a rally in support of the President of the country, Aleksandar Vučić, and then, under the cover of night, they will return to where they came from, to Kosovo and Metohija.

An ambulance was also following the two buses from Parteš. Several doctors and nurses also went to the rally. Passengers felt safer when they heard that doctors were nearby. According to one of the passengers from the bus where Momčilo was, he thought that he had a little more to drink when he decided to go that way.

"That's why one of the men said that it would be good for Momčilo to go to his relatives in Niš, we knew that his uncle lived there. The man who suggested that we leave his colleague in Niš also said that he was afraid that he wouldn't be able to sleep until Belgrade, and that we had a busy day ahead of us."

Read more The cost of human life in Serbia: Insensitivity and cynicism of caste in power

Vučković's uncle from Niš confirmed to "Vreme" that his phone rang around two in the morning.

"An acquaintance from Kosovo called me and told me that he would let me know soon, when the bus is in Niš, where to pick up my little sister."

In the following minutes, a fatal mistake occurred, due to which, as members of Vučković's family say, justice will be served in court.

Namely, according to the claims of numerous witnesses, the buses stopped in Doljevac, near Niš, at a nearby gas station, so that the passengers could drink coffee.

Fatal fall

"Momcilo also bought coffee. He came up for air and started to stretch his legs. He tripped and fell with all his might. He hit the back of his head hard on the asphalt. He fainted from the blow. He quickly came to his senses, however, panic arose among the passengers."

A witness who does not want to be named says that at that moment the director of the Health Center from Pasjan was also present at the pump, as well as at least three doctors in the ambulance who were following the bus.

"They examined Momcilo at the gas station. He had a small cut on his head. Although they were also told that he had fallen on the back of his head and that he had lost consciousness, they concluded that 'it was nothing dangerous'. The doctors bandaged his head and said that there was no need to go to the hospital, but that he could continue to the rally. One of those present objected to the doctors and said that it was out of the question, that it was unacceptable for an injured man to continue his journey."

Soon Vučković's uncle's phone rang again. As he says, an acquaintance called him again, around 2 hours and 15 minutes after midnight. He was told that Momcilo was injured and that an ambulance would bring him to the roundabout near his house, and to go and wait for him.

"The ambulance was speeding under rotation. When they stopped in front of me, the door opened quickly and a nurse got out of the vehicle with my cousin. He had bandages on his head. I was worried, but she said that the doctor said that everything is fine with Momcila, that 'it's nothing' and that they have to move on. She quickly returned to the vehicle," says Vučković's cousin and continues.

"They just left him behind. Well, I didn't even see the doctor. Was it difficult for him to leave the hospital? Why didn't they take him to the hospital? Why didn't they tell me that it would be good if he took a picture of his head, I would give him a ride? The hospital is close by, if only they had shown one word of concern my cousin would probably have survived. Why were they in such a hurry, and I believed them because 'the doctor said so'."

Falling into a coma

Vučković spent the night in a relative's house, and in the morning he asked to return to Kosovo. Momčil's uncle tells "Vreme" that he agreed with his cousin's parents to meet at the "Bela Zemlja" administrative crossing.

"Somewhere after Bujanovac, I noticed that Momcilo's head was drooping. He seemed to have fallen asleep. A little further, at the administrative crossing, I met my sister, his mother. We were unable to wake him up, we carried him to her vehicle."

Momcilo actually fell into a coma. He hasn't woken up since. The family first took him to the Health Center in Pasjani, then to Gnjilane, from where he was transported by ambulance to Pristina. The doctors there immediately referred him to the scanner. It was found that he had internal bleeding, two capillaries on his brain burst due to the impact of his head on the concrete. His chances of survival were already minimal.

"Doctors in Pristina told us that the operation should have been done during the night, that precious time was lost. They operated on him. They tried their best to help, we saw that they were trying. They had to put him in an induced coma in addition to the coma he fell into. However, he did not survive. He died on Tuesday."

Why?

Why did the doctors from the Gnjilane Health Center, who according to the information of the "Vremena" portal journalist, were in the ambulance that went to the rally and examined Vučković, act like that, that is, they did not take him to the nearest hospital? We did not manage to get the answer until the publication of this text. Namely, on several occasions when contacting the Health Center where they work, we were told that they are busy and examining patients.

On Wednesday, Momčilo Vučković was buried in the village cemetery in Donja Budriga, surrounded by family, friends and colleagues, who had meanwhile returned from the SNS rally.

Momčilo did not get to walk around Belgrade and never saw Kosovo again. All his wishes and needs were forever lost at that moment, when his head just fell off at the administrative line. The family and friends of the deceased are troubled by the question of why the doctors, who went to the rally, left the patient behind just like that. Has the oath to political parties become more important to them than Hippocrates? Did they have to? And what "must" is more important than life?

The elderly, who have often seen those thin lines between life and death, know how to say: "Nothing in life is forced. He just has to die.”

Now, forever... Far away... Momcilo doesn't have to do anything anymore.

 Read daily news, analysis, commentary and interviews at www.vreme.com