12.07.2018.

Extraordinary Success of the MMA Medical Team

Today, Minister of Defence Aleksandar Vulin met a team of doctors from the Military Medical Academy that early this month carried out a complex surgical procedure of removing a liposarcoma – a rare type of cancer of large size.

Following gastroenterological diagnostics done by Lieutenant Colonel Nebojša Manojlović, Doctor of specialised medicine, from the Gastroenterology and Hepatology Clinic at the MMA, and a conciliar decision on surgical treatment, the surgical procedure was conducted on 5th July by Prof Dr Bratislav Trifunović, Dr Boško Milev, Lieutenant Colonel Assistant Dr Milan Jovanović and Dr Živorad Kocevski and anaesthesiologist Dr Aleksandra Ristanović and theatre nurses Marijana Bugarčić and Jasmina Mitrović. The removal procedure was successfully carried out owing to a multidisciplinary approach to the treatment.

Minister Vulin said that 4500 members of the military health take care of 131,000 of the military insured and more than 300,000 civilians who come through the institution of the military health each year and who praise the military health.

- And, they are truly right. The military health is the pride of the Ministry of Defence and the medical profession in general. I wish to thank Professor Trifunović and his team for this exceptional and extraordinary surgical procedure, which they carried out, and more than that – for their daily work, every surgery of which we have never heard and about which we know nothing but which saved someone’s life or changed it for the better – Minister Vulin highlighted.

According to him, the Ministry of Defence will continue investing in the military health.

- Investing in the quality of the military health is an investment in the quality of life of not only the members of the armed forces, but of the citizens of the entire country. Everybody can rely on the military health and we will continue building and maintaining the military health structure which has proved to be so important and valuable. The staff of the MMA are the most important, and it is up to us to provide medicines and material, but the most of all – to preserve the quality of the people who work in the MMA. That is precisely why we changed the laws to enable the most prominent doctors, researchers and professors to stay at the MMA, to stay there until the age of 65, like their civilian colleagues, recognising that the people are the thing that makes the MMA what it is. We are proud of them and today we thank them – said the minister of defence.

Head of the Military Health Department, Colonel Dr Uglješa Jovičić underscored that everybody in the military health was very proud of what the team of doctors did at the MMA.

- Such surgery is not done every day, nor is it done everywhere, and to perform it, we have to have a good team, cadre, equipment and material. Our goal is to transfer everything that is done in the MMA to other military health establishments such as military hospitals in Novi Sad and Niš, which employ highly specialised doctors. Minister Vulin assigned a task to us – for this year to be a year of military health and military medicine, and to raise them to a higher level. We are already following those steps and I do hope that we will fulfil the task – said Colonel Jovičić.

Acting Head of the MMA, Colonel Prof Miroslav Vukosavljević congratulated the medical team of behalf of the MMA.

- I would like to thank the minister of defence for today’s reception that was held because of these wonderful people, our team which is one of many teams that the MMA traditionally fostered over 174 years. The military health is going to be something that makes our Ministry of Defence proud not only this year, but in the years and decades to come. We will certainly continue following these footsteps in order to continue being the umbrella institution of the Serbian military health and in the region – Colonel Vukosavljević emphasised.

Professor Dr Bratislav Trifunović spoke about the complexity of the surgical procedure.

- It is one of the most difficult procedures in the oncological surgery, chiefly because of the size of the tumour, and because of the place where the tumour was located. That is the place where all nodes, and life elements intertwine – aorta, lower hollow vein, the largest lymph vessels and nerves and the spine with large spinal nerves. It was important to remove the tumour without any damage – said Professor Trifunović and added that the surgery is a “team sport” and that without a good team “you cannot perform such procedures”.

One of the team members is Dr Živorad Kocevski from Macedonia, a doctor on his specialist studies at the MMA.

- It is my great honour to be part of this team and for having been given an opportunity to be present at one such rare surgical procedure. I would like to point out that the MMA is an extraordinary institution which provides great work conditions, and I could not have chosen a better institution for my specialist internship – said Dr Kocevski.

This type of malignity happens in very little number of cases and it is accompanied by different symptoms of the disease. In the case of the female patient at the MMA, the tumour of 50cm in diameter weighing around 18 kilograms was located in the stomack. The patient’s (51 of age) condition is stable and she was dismissed from the hospital to house treatment.