MUVI’s cooperation with ASA Hospital will ensure the transfer of knowledge and best medical practices
Text: Hana Imamović, PHOTO FENA
The citizens of Sarajevo, as well as Bosnia and Herzegovina, will receive the first private general hospital at the end of next year, and four months after the announcement of cooperation, the leaders of the Medical University of Vienna and the Vienna General Hospital (AKH) again visited Sarajevo, where they discussed with the representatives of ASA Hospital the plan of activities for the education and preparation of future personnel and the development of the quality and safety management system according to the highest international standards.
On that occasion, the director of the ASA Hospital project, Assoc. Ph.D. Rasim Jusufović spoke about current employment activities and next steps.
Through the concept of its operation, ASA Hospital will supplement the segment of secondary and tertiary hospital care. In addition to the basic goal of providing health care services at the highest possible level, the first private general hospital will also offer its employees a completely different work environment.
– ASA Hospital will be a place of continuous education and training for the entire medical staff, as well as for all other employees. We are aware that it is imperative to ensure the engagement of top medical experts who, with a professional approach, knowledge and experience, will provide patients with the best healthcare – said Jusufović.
He points out that therefore high on the list of their priorities is the creation of a favorable and inspiring environment for work and the gathering of young talents and established experts from various fields.
Speaking about the focus of their relationship with patients, he announced that they will pay special attention to disease prevention programs and the promotion of healthy lifestyles and habits as part of a specially developed population and patient education program called ASA Zdravlje.
– In order to ensure the best clinical expertise right from the start and achieve a high level of hospital service, we decided on a strategic partnership with the International Medical University in Vienna, which manages the Vienna General Hospital – says the director.
The strategic partnership agreement refers to the areas of clinical management of the ASA Hospital, which will be led by permanently employed renowned experts of the Vienna General and University Hospital, the development of quality and safety management systems according to the highest international standards, the continuous education of staff at the ASA Hospital and the Vienna General Hospital, and the development of joint scientific research programs.
When asked whether the recruitment of doctors and other staff has already started, Jusufović said that hiring the best staff is one of the most important issues. They are currently negotiating with numerous medical experts from BiH, but also with a large number of BiH. experts who are very successful all over the world and want to continue their career in their homeland.
– We carefully select the members of our future team and we are very positively surprised by the enthusiasm, engagement and readiness of our experts from the diaspora who want to contribute to our project in various ways. Through already signed engagement contracts with such experts, we are realizing our dream that our hospital will not only reduce the outflow of personnel from Bosnia and Herzegovina, but will also ensure that experts who have trained and specialized in Europe and the world return to their homeland in order to contribute to the establishment of quality and safe health services for all citizens – says Jusufović.
However, apart from medical experts from various fields who are at the peak of their careers, the hospital’s doors will be open to all medical and other professionals who are at the very beginning of their professional development, and are willing to learn, progress and give their best in order to jointly create difference and offer added value to complete healthcare.
The director of the International Medical University of Vienna (MUVI) MSc Elisabeth Chalupa-Gartner said that they have a very long tradition in the field of medical education, research and patient care that lasts more than 650 years.
– We are not only the oldest but also the largest medical institution in Europe that works as a university hospital and has more than 1,800 beds. It employs more than 5,500 people, of which more than 3,500 are scientific staff and more than 1,700 doctors. Our institution employs a large number of experts from Bosnia and Herzegovina who have proven that they are ambitious and hard workers – she said.
This is also confirmed by our work with the team within the ASA Hospital project led by director Jusufović, because it is a team that is very dedicated to work and very professional, and that is one of the key factors, Chalupa-Gartner points out, for the realization of any project.
– We were convinced of this at the site where the hospital is being built, which we visited this week, and we have seen great progress since we visited the construction site in July – she added.
When it comes to their role in the cooperation, they provide best medical practice, models and transfer their knowledge to medical workers in Bosnia and Herzegovina which includes doctors, nurses and other medical personnel, which will enable them to improve and strengthen their own knowledge.
Director of International Relations of the International Medical University of Vienna (MUVI) and head of the Department of Radiological Diagnostics of the General Hospital of Vienna, Christian J. Herold, said that it is a great honor for them to work in cooperation with ASA to jointly launch this extraordinary project of the ASA Hospital.
– We are the international and business branch of our university and provide the knowledge and expertise of our AKH academic hospital. AKH is among the 25 best hospitals in the world and among the five best in Europe. All our doctors come from the Medical University of Vienna and therefore we have a perfect partnership with AKH – explained Herold.
AKH performs 50,000 surgical procedures per year, treats 10,000 outpatients per day, and has 1,000 medical students, and the goal is to put their patients at the center of care.
– We take care of our patients, among whom are many patients from the Balkans as well as their families. This care is focused on the patient and the quality of training and practice are aligned with high technology medicine – he said.
Over the past decade, they have invented cochlear implants (aids for people with severe or total hearing loss), extendable prostheses for tumor patients, and new methods of precision medicine to treat even the most complicated and life-threatening conditions.
The goal of the partnership with ASA, Herold points out, is to bring this approach, developments and progress to BiH and for ASA Hospital to become the most excellent health care institution in the entire region.
– This is the right moment, especially in light of the perspective of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s membership in the European Union. In this partnership, we will exchange medical and technological expertise, establish training programs in Vienna and Sarajevo, and bring experts to BiH who will work with the excellent staff at ASA – he added.
He expressed his belief that ASA is the perfect partner for this venture, adding that he was impressed by the outstanding work of the ASA team and the progress of the hospital construction.
(FENA)
