Pristina hampers work of hospitals in Serb-populated areas of Kosovo

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During the Covid-19 pandemic, the Kosovo authorities were obstructing the vaccination of the Serbian population and are still disrupting healthcare services in the Serb-populated areas in the north of the breakaway province, director of the Clinical Hospital Center in the city of North Kosovska Mitrovica in northern Kosovo, Zlatan Elek, said on Sunday.

Earlier on Sunday, a gathering of Kosovo Serbs was held in North Kosovska Mitrovica; since Friday night, the city has been decorated with Serbian flags.

On Saturday, representatives of the Kosovo Serbs decided to pull out of all structures of the self-proclaimed state— including the parliament, government, courts, and police —  due to Pristina's removal of the Serbian police chief for having refused to issue written warnings to local Serbs regarding car plates. The next day, the Kosovo Serbs scheduled a protest.

"The authorities in Pristina have been carrying out various kinds of terror against the Serbian population in Kosovo and Metohija for the last ten years, and especially for the last year. This is how it affects our health care: in the middle of the pandemic, when the Serbian government and President Aleksandar Vucic provided all types of vaccines for all citizens of Kosovo and Metohija, we were not allowed to get vaccinated in our clinics and we still wonder why," Elek said at the rally.

While no supplies are being delivered, the hospital director noted that medicines and medical equipment should be supplied to northern Kosovo under the Brussels Agreement. 

"Our medical vehicles are still being stopped, medical personnel are being intimidated, detainees are not taken to the police station in North Kosovska Mitrovica, but to the southern [Albanian] part; medication, medical equipment, and supplies have been seized and have not been returned yet," Elek added.

Representatives of the education and judiciary spheres, the police, and lawmakers of the Serb List party also voiced their opinions at the gathering.

"Yesterday we resigned from our posts in Kosovo 'parliament,' this is our personal decision and the continuation of the struggle of each of us for the respect of international law, the Brussels Agreement, the struggle for peace and stability in this territory. We resigned with a clear conscience because for nine and a half years we tried everything — we reached out for peace and built trust. Our lawmakers, judges and police officers resigned not because we got tired of fighting but because we do not want to be a cover-up for Kosovo institutions to continue violence against our people," the deputy chairman of the Serb List party said.

Tensions between Belgrade and Pristina rose in August. Authorities in Kosovo require local Serbs to re-register their car plates and demand that they feature the EU-standard letter code of RKS (Republic of Kosovo) instead of KM, the Serbian identifier for the disputed region of Kosovska Mitrovica on the border. October 31 was the deadline for the re-registration.