For a month now gave birth from Petrovac na Mlava they travel on a bumpy local road, all the way through the Municipality of Malo Crniće to the hospital in Požarevac.
The maternity hospital in Petrovac was closed because the only birthing table - broke down. After a month and a half, a new one arrived.
After the failure, the authorized service technician concluded that the failure was impossible to repair and that the table was not safe for use, so the director of the General Hospital ordered the maternity ward to be closed.
The head of gynecology at this hospital, Danijela Katic, told "Vreme" that the problem was noted at the end of October and that the maternity ward was closed on November 4.
"While the rural roads in the municipality are paved and ceremonially opened, none of the management of the hospital and the municipality is dealing with the problem of the maternity ward. Due to the closure of the maternity hospital, pregnant women are referred to other maternity hospitals, without the management being aware of the urgency of certain conditions in obstetrics, which must be resolved immediately and now. This is how the municipality of Petrovac na Mlava and the General Hospital work for our children," said Katic.
"People are often sent to Požarevac"
Dragan Stajić, local councilor of the National Movement of Serbia, tells "Vreme" that he also received information that the new table has been secured and conveyed it to the media in a timely manner.
He previously said that he had information and that the hospital needed the necessary equipment in previous years, but that the problem was not solved in time.
In the original version of this text, he emphasized that he believes that the problem may be solved tomorrow, but that the negligence that exists in many hospitals throughout Serbia should be solved in a timely manner, and not through public pressure.
"To be honest, the situation in the general hospital is better than it was." Hygiene, for example, is at a higher level, but the hospital does very little and people are often sent to Požarevac," says Stajić.
Other problems in Požarevac
After the public in July drew the attention of the authorities to the desperate state of the GAK "Narodni Front" maternity hospital, which did not have functional air conditioning in the midst of a heat wave, social networks circulated pictures from the maternity ward – like from a horror movie.
Apart from the terrible condition in which she is, the experiences of women giving birth in Požarevac are not much better.
Maternity centers throughout Serbia are in a very bad condition. In many cities, there are no cooling devices in the maternity hospitals in the summer, and there are heating problems in the winter. Food and treatment of pregnant women are even in those with a good reputation below any minimum. Attendance at childbirth is not available everywhere.
Pregnant women are greeted by bloody sheets and stained nightgowns, if at all, a problem obstetric violence has been successfully covered up for half a century.
*The text was changed after the newsroom was informed that a new table arrived at the maternity hospital in Petrovac na Mlava on Monday, December 9.
