Director of the Institute for Public Health, Dr Boban Mugoša, was asked today how it is possible that elections will take place if two wedding ceremonies with over 600 attendees provoked several hot spots of infection. Dr Mugoša answered that “you cannot mix apples and oranges”.
“You can’t compare elections and a wedding ceremony. Elections are held in controlled environment, according to strict regulations. If people adhere to measures, there won’t be problems. The problem occurs when conditions are out of control”, Dr Mugoša said.
The epidemic will slow down
Dr Mugoša said that the level of the epidemic “is relatively high but is kept under control”.
“The good thing is that we haven’t recorded an increase in the number of infections. This is the crucial moment. Probably the epidemic will start to slow down”, doctor pointed out.
He warned that it all depended on how we behaved.
“We must adhere to very simple measures. Wearing masks, taking care of hygiene and maintaining physical distance with a small number of contacts”, Dr Mugoša said.
Epidemic fires
Dr Mugoša added that some citizens had defied the measures by going to countries that had high level of local transmission and then came back to Montenegro without reporting where they had been.
“We had illegal border crossing. You know the story about wedding ceremonies…as a result, we have had epidemic fires raging across the country. However, we have the situation under control and we had to apply a lot of energy and all the resources we had available. We have increased testing by ten times. We had coronavirus-free country for 42 days. But then citizens relaxed too much. Restrictive measures couldn’t be reinstated in the second wave of the epidemic. Everybody did their best. I am not satisfied with the level of local transmission. But we must learn how to live with this virus. We are now paying the price because others around us failed to do what we did. I expect the situation to get better”, Dr Mugoša said.
Situation in the region is carefully monitored
Arrival of tourists could be a challenge but Dr Mugoša believes they will protect public health.
“We are monitoring the situation in the states
Recommendations
Asked if the Institute has recommended that hospital patients will be allowed to vote, Dr Mugoša said that Institute could only provide recommendations but could not make decisions.
Dr said that 600 people in one place “is not the same as people in elections, where the procedure is clear”.
“I don’t know how you can compare these two categories”, Dr Radojević pointed out.
Doctor provided false data
Dr Radojević commented on the story told by Dr Svetlana Marković Perić from tivat, wife of the first patient who died to COVID-19 complications.
He said that Doctor had given false and inaccurate data.
“After the patient came back from Serbia, she decided to treat him at home, although his condition was aggravating. When he was in really critical condition, colleagues from Herceg Novi issued a warrant for hospitalization in the Clinical Center. Unfortunately, this patient died. Everybody knows that the reason is late hospitalization. But of course, we’ll never known if anything would have happened differently even if he had come on time”, Dr Radojević pointed out.
Dr Radojević also touched on what the doctor said about the autopsy – that it was carried out without her consent.
“I carried out that autopsy. Our law stipulates that we don’t need anybody’s consent for such an autopsy. It is clearly defined in what cases the consent for autopsy is required but in this situation it wasn’t necessary because coronavirus was diagnosed after he died”, Dr Radojević said.
Dr Radojević said that they had assisted their colleague as much as they could in terms of funeral.
“She couldn’t find a resting place and I personally called director of the hospital in Risan and the body was taken to the icebox of the hospital. The body was there for eight full days, until conditions were created for the funeral. Although the patient has insurance in another state, not even a single euro has been charged”, Dr Radojević said.
He added that he had been in contact with doctor several times.
“I would like to take this opportunity and express my condolences. Our healthcare system was more than correct and understanding in this case and it would be good if from now on, the picture of it is given more accurately and clearly”, Dr Radojević said.
