MAJOR LOSS FOR SERBIAN HEALTHCARE: One of Europe’s best cardiologists resigns from KC Niš due to pressure, then leaves Serbia!

Dr. Nenad Božinović, a world-renowned interventional cardiologist and one of only 50 CTO experts in Europe, resigned at the beginning of January from the University Clinical Center Niš. As Nova.rs has learned, the famous doctor decided to leave this hospital, and he also resigned from the Medical Faculty in Niš because his work with patients was restricted and the management did not provide him with materials for the specific interventions that he alone performed at this institution. After resigning, Božinović moved to Bijeljina in Bosnia and Herzegovina and took a job at a state hospital there.

An immeasurable loss for Serbia’s healthcare system, and above all for patients, occurred on January 9 when Dr. Božinović decided to leave UKC Niš, as well as Serbia.

“His work became impossible because the management refused to provide him with materials for interventions. Since December of last year, he had only one day per week in the angio suite, which is insufficient given the large number of patients he has. Due to the drastic reduction in intervention days, patients could not reach him at all, which is one of the reasons for his departure,” a doctor from the Cardiology Clinic who asked to remain anonymous told our portal.

Unfortunately, the schedule for the suite remained the same in January, which is why he left the hospital and Serbia.

“They removed dozens of patients from his waiting list, and as we heard, Dr. Perišić banned him from working in private practice for two years, after which he resigned from both the hospital and the Medical Faculty and went to work in Bijeljina, at their state hospital,” our interlocutor emphasizes.

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One of only 50 experts in Europe

As one of only 50 members of EURO CTO (chronic total occlusions, heart procedures without opening the chest), that is, cardiologists who perform these interventions on coronary arteries, the priority of the Niš hospital, as well as health authorities, should have been to keep Dr. Božinović within the borders of our country.

However, when he resigned, no one from the management of this institution turned after him, and patients were left desperate because from now on they will be able to find this world expert in a hospital – in neighboring BiH.

“He wanted to bring Europe to Niš, however Prof. Perišić did not want to provide him with materials for work. Božinović is the Mozart of interventional cardiology, but our management could not tolerate that because their complexes are too great, so they drove him away. Boris Đinđić, director of the Cardiology Clinic, and Zoran Perišić drove Božinović away and now we have no one who performs CTO procedures. People do not leave Serbian hospitals because they are poorly paid, but because they are not allowed academic advancement and because they endure mobbing and pressure. Božinović was banned from performing CTO procedures in Niš, and radiologist Maja Jocić also left us for Slovenia, a doctor who was not selected for faculty teaching, but the daughter of an influential manager was, even though she is in the first year of specialization. No one would tolerate such conditions. When we are left without doctors and nurses, they will bring people from Ghana, from Nepal, and the level of service will be catastrophic,” Prof. Dr. Dragan Milić, director of the Cardiac Surgery Clinic of UKC Niš, told Nova.rs.

Patients’ comments on social media regarding Dr. Božinović’s departure speak enough about what kind of expert we have lost.

“Dr. Nenad Božinović is first and foremost a top human being beyond his profession, and as for his profession, an extraordinary expert who found a procedure in that field that is now applied all over the world. Thanks to him I am still alive, like thousands of other patients whom he saved and gave a new chance. The man is a gentleman above all, a top scientist, and because he loves justice and the youth of his country he was driven out of KC. I also know that where he is now he will not refuse any person to help them,” wrote one patient.

“This reminds of the beheading of the knezes. All the prominent and capable people go under the sword…,” reads one comment.

“Great persecution and pressure on top experts, belittling and destruction of all true values… leads to catastrophe in healthcare and adequate treatment in this mutilated and devastated country…,” states another of dozens of comments.

What is the European CTO Club?

The European CTO Club has 50 members, and to become a full member one must previously perform 300 of these interventions.

Dr. Božinović is one of them, whom the five-member board of this club recommended as a candidate for full membership back in 2017. From that moment, each year they must perform 50 CTO interventions to remain members, which is only possible if they are provided with a sufficient number of working days and hours in the suite.

Dr. Božinović performed these interventions in Iran, Ukraine and around the world.

We recall that Dr. Nenad Božinović is an interventional cardiologist with many years of experience, gained through work in public and private clinics. He was head of the Department of Invasive Cardiology at the Cardiology Clinic at UKC Niš, and is a specialist in complex CTO PCI interventions and, as we have already stated, a full member of the board of the EURO CTO Club.

Dr. Božinović mostly worked with the most complicated patients, and he performed hundreds of non-standard operations – opening blocked blood vessels without opening the chest.

Due to his expertise, he was often engaged outside Serbia, that is, in clinics around the world.

He is the author and co-author of numerous internationally significant papers, a participant and executor of international projects and studies, and an invited lecturer at numerous cardiology and cardiac surgery congresses in the country and abroad, and a member of several medical associations.