08.01.2009.
MoD helps hospitals in Novi Sad
Due to the problems occasioned by the economic crisis the command of the Army First Brigade provided help to the most indigent citizens of Novi Sad. Before this campaign, Brigadier General Djokica Petrovic attended the crisis staff meeting of the Town of Novi Sad where attention was drawn to the Gerontology Center in Futog needed. The Town of Novi Sad has requested financial support through the Ministry of Defense as a mediator. The center which is understaffed (70 employees) accommodates 270 beneficiaries. They were awarded 4 aggregates for alternate power supply.Parts of Novi Sad with some 100000 citizens remained without power and heat on the night between 7 and 8 January, as well as parts of Petrovaradin where the Novi Sad military medical center is and all suburban quarts which have gas heating system as the power plants are not able to switch to an alternate power source.
In the words of Colonel Bratoljub Brkljac, PhD, the Head of the Military Medical Center, right after the possible gas sanctions had been announced, urgent measures to switch to an autonomous old heating system using oil, since the workers of 19th logistics battalion with the Army First Brigade had put in extra effort to make the system completely operational.
Since there are currently 50 beds available in warm hospital rooms in the Novi Sad military medical center, Colonel Brkljaca has contacted the Province Secretariat for Healthcare and has offered free accommodation facilities to the Novi sad based hospital, especially to children’s wards.
The military medical center in Novi Sad has oil for heating for several days, but since it can be easily procured at the market, the patients will be adequately taken care for during the Ukraine-Russian gas dispute.
