It is the duty of doctors to listen and treat patients impartially. Irresponsible and unethical statements by the Minister of Health that patients came "with those symptoms (...) by order" suggesting that these complaints are fake, reduce trust in health institutions, deter people from seeking help in health institutions and thus violate the right to health care
A significant number of people (NGO sources mention more than 3000) complained about health problems after the alleged use of sound weapons at Saturday's demonstrations in Ulica Kralja Milana in Belgrade. In addition to the time (19.11:XNUMX) and the place where they were, these people are connected by the feeling of fear, anxiety, confusion, disorientation, as well as the presence of physical symptoms in the form of headache, nausea and ringing in the ears that they felt after this incident.
It is the duty of doctors to listen and treat patients impartially. Irresponsible and unethical statements Minister of Health that patients came "with those symptoms (...) by order" ("Politika", March 17, 2025), suggesting that these complaints are fake, reduce trust in health institutions, deter people from seeking help in health institutions and thus violate the right to health care.
How can a minister, a graduate doctor, declare such a thing? Did he examine any of those people when he makes statements with such authority about their diagnoses because "the main symptoms are fainting and nausea, but that was not there except for their story"?
Symptoms are, by definition, manifestations of health problems that only the patient is aware of. In other words, these are subjective complaints. The doctor should listen and examine the patient to find the cause of those symptoms and suggest therapy if needed. A headache or ringing in the ears cannot be seen or felt by anyone but the patient. The minister should know that and leave it to the doctors who examined the patients to present their professional opinion.
The president of the republic, a law graduate and medical layman, further aggravated the situation by stating that all these people are lying about their symptoms, which is an insult to the victims of this incident who may need help.
Pressure on doctors not to do their job and to ignore specific health complaints of patients as conceited and false, has already been seen as a practice of authoritarian regimes around the world. This can lead to the loss of important epidemiological data and the undermining of institutional and social mechanisms that are important for this and future public health crises.
According to Article 102 of the Law on Health Care, the Institute for Public Health established on the territory of the Republic of Serbia (known as "Batut") "determines the necessary measures in crisis and emergency situations and carries out their implementation, in cooperation with other institutions". In this situation and at the time of writing this text, this institution has not yet announced itself, so we have to get information about the number of people with health problems from non-competent institutions and the non-governmental sector.
The silence with which "Batut" and other institutes followed the incident at the protest is not in the interest of the citizens who asked for help and is against the basic principles of health protection. A sudden increase in the number of specific symptoms must be investigated epidemiologically, to determine their prevalence and cause, and to inform and advise the public. Competent public health institutions are bound by a professional duty to protect the health of citizens despite political pressure not to do so. Doctors and other healthcare workers in Serbia have proven their commitment, expertise and professional approach in public health crises many times so far. Who and in what way is preventing them from advertising now?
With this episode of silencing the profession, regardless of the cause of the sudden increase in the number of people with identical symptoms, which I'm sure will be determined, Serbia is facing a dangerous precedent of medical repression that can have long-term public health consequences.
Arrests out of the blue, banishment from the country, beatings... All this happened to us in the last week alone. The Serbian Progressive Party, born from the foam left behind by their spiritual father Vojislav Šešelj, is returning to its roots. I can't escape from myself
"The levers of power are not in their hands," said Bishop Grigorije. "But there is something in the Holy Scriptures that I like very much, and that is that the power of God is revealed in weakness. So, all worldly power is on one side. And on the other side, in the hands of these young men and women is the weakness of this world. But in their weakness, the power of God or God's justice appears. That is why they are at such a great advantage."
The regime and its media have been trumpeting the "civil war" for months, and the government is the only one that has a patent for peace and stability - of course, with the help of the propaganda machine and the use of force. "It is a propaganda tactic of SNS that says: 'violence is everywhere, terrorists surround us, but we are here to save you,'" explains communication professor Jelena Kleut for "Vreme".
Students and citizens who accompany them on these walking feats, were welcomed as the most native together with those who came the day before from other places. A dove of peace was also released on the stage next to the promenade along the river - this symbolic gesture of the two students is the most impressive gesture of understanding and respect between the Bosniak and Serbian peoples since the end of the wars in the former Yugoslavia
The three-day parliament for the promotion of Aleksandar Vučić and his Movement for the People and the State was realistically a fiasco. But it was first of all conceived as a media spectacle for regime television directed by court promoter Željko "DJ Žeks" Mitrović, with scenography and iconography adapted to the Serbian political market.
Anyone who condemns the regime's targeting of people from the media, the non-governmental sector, the opposition and universities, must not agree to this targeting of RTS editors and journalists either.
The government of Đur Mazut is "counter-revolutionary", focused on retaliation and state and street violence against opponents of the regime
Depriving Dejan Ilić, an intellectual with an impeccable life and work biography, of his freedom, without the slightest meaningful reason, is just one of the brutal indicators that the regime has turned against its own citizens and is entering a phase of terror
Vučić and Šešelj: Where I stopped, you continue
The return of radical violence subscribeThe archive of the weekly Vreme includes all our digital editions, since the very beginning of our work. All issues can be downloaded in PDF format, by purchasing the digital edition, or you can read all available texts from the selected issue.
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