12. 05. 2005

EDUCATION MINISTER OBJECTS TO MEDIA REPORTING

BELGRADE, May 12, 2005 – Minister of Education and Sports Slobodan Vuksanovic has objected to the reporting of Belgrade daily Blic and RTV B92 on the case of medical examination of thousand students of New Belgrade elementary school “Jovan Ducic”. The media questioned the credibility of Vuksanovic and the Ministry regarding the unauthorized medical examination of pupils, who were submitted to unapproved diagnostic methods without parental consent. The examination was conducted without the approval of the Health Ministry, but with support of the Education Ministry. The Education Minister Vuksanovic had signed the document on April 7, by which he officially supported the Association of Sports and Education of New Belgrade, then the elementary school “Jovan Ducic” and finally medical clinic “Ecim” in their intent to medically examine thousand pupils of this primary school. Vuksanovic further demanded the publication of test results, to be used later as a model in determining the early diagnosis of pancreas diseases and would greatly contribute to the preventive medicine. “Since the medical clinic is licensed by the Health Ministry, then it’s no longer an issue to me. For me, as Education Minister, the only issue here is whether the school management had notified the parents of their intention and asked for their consent”, said Vuksanovic. Health Minister Tomica Milosavljevic however said that “the Ministry of Health was never consulted on the issue, and, had it been consulted, it would have never approved this alternative and unproved method, which the Ministry generally opposes to”. The Serbian Parliament’s MPs assured the public that the Minister Vuksanovic would not be replaced. However, the opposing Social Democratic Union has demanded the resignation of the Education Minister. “No one has the right to make decisions in the name of children and their parents, without their consent”, stressed this political party. Editor-in-Chief of daily “Blic” Veselin Simonovic has regarded Vuksanovic’s letter as nonsense. “We have accused Vuksanovic of being responsible for what had happened in this elementary school, not because we have something against him, but just because we have proofs against him. We have his letter where he recommended the medical clinic ‘Ecim’ to conduct the examinations of the students. If Vuksanovic believes that was normal, then he’s got a big issue with himself, not with daily ‘Blic’”, said Simonovic.