BIRN has obtained a letter in which Minister of Health Armend Zemaj calls for measures to be taken following our investigation exposing a lack of security at the clinics housing COVID-19 patients at the University Clinical Centre of Kosovo, UCCK. 

The letter was sent by Zemaj to the board and acting director of the Hospital and University Clinical Service of Kosovo, and demands responsibility be taken by the management of the hospital.

“There has been a failure of organisation in the work at the clinics and an inadequate management of the situation which we are in,” the letter states. “The directors of the clinics, as well as the heads of the respective units are responsible for the organisation, planning and management of those clinics.”

In an interview with BIRN on November 16, Zemaj stated that there was “no chance” that anyone that had not tested positive for COVID-19 could enter clinics in which COVID-19 patients were being treated. The minister added that Kosovo Police officers had been deployed and were operating a zero tolerance policy regarding entry.

However, on December 8, BIRN Kosovo Director Jeta Xharra and a camera crew, none of whom had authorisation, encountered no police and were easily able to enter multiple clinics at UCCK housing patients with COVID-19.

On Tuesday (December 15), Esat Tahiri, the head of Security Code, the company responsible for providing security at the hospital, told BIRN that three security guards had been suspended for failing to secure the clinics.

In his letter, Zemaj expresses disappointment at the lack of security keeping the public away from clinics treating COVID-19 patients. “At the clinics in question, there was nothing to prevent civilians from being present with hospitalised relatives,” the letter reads.

Zemaj adds that the ministry has hired staff to perform all the required duties, and that he was unaware of the lack of security that BIRN’s reporting had revealed.