Dr. Grujicic: It is wrong autopsies are not performed, Crisis HQ for coronavirus decides on that

Foto: Tanjug/Strahinja Aćimović

The director of the Institute of Oncology and Radiology of Serbia, Dr. Danica Grujicic, stresses that it is a mistake that autopsies on patients who died of Covid are not performed in Serbia, on the recommendation of the World Health Organization (WHO).

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"That was not a binding recommendation. The Crisis HQ decides on autopsies. With an autopsy, we would know which organs were affected, what the condition of the organism was. We don't know whether those people who died of Covid were healthy or had some disease," Dr. Grujicic stressed for K1 TV.

She added a large number of patients with oncological diseases, as many as 30 percent, saw the doctor too late since they did not get an examination in time because of the epidemic.

"They cannot receive any therapy, because they are in the terminal phase, they can only receive support so that they are not in pain, and wait for the end. They suffered, they knew they had some disease or problem, but they waited for coronavirus to pass (before going to the doctor). I asked for information to be published on how many cancer patients are among the dead. It's wrong that we do not do autopsies, on the advice of the WHO."

She also said that oncology patients should receive the vaccine, but should agree with their oncologist on when.

"They should not get it while receiving active therapy. All vaccines are good. No one is talking about the fact that the side effects of AstraZeneca, blood clots, occurred in 30 per one million people who received this vaccine. Vaccination of children, however, should not be rushed. Wait another year and see."

Dr. Grujicic also spoke about the situation at the Institute of Oncology and Radiology in Belgrade and pointed out that they work in three shifts.

"Out of the four operating rooms, we work in two. We do surgeries until 11, 12 o'clock at night, we start brain surgeries at 7 in the evening. There are many patients with brain tumors who are waiting for surgery. Our doctors, nurses and anesthesiologists are in Batajnica (Covid hospital). Before the epidemic broke out, we did not have a waiting list, that is, every wait up to a month does not count as waiting. Patients waited for two and a half weeks to receive radiation therapy, and three and a half for chemotherapy. We now have 360 patients a day on radiotherapy alone. About 2,000 patients pass through the Institute every day. We work in three shifts," said Dr. Grujicic.

(Telegraf.rs)