Belgrade, December 29, 2010. – ’’Here we are again on the calendar crossroad to, according our usual practice, with a friendly toast, review everything we have done,  check if we have fulfilled all our promises made to you here, in this place, a year ago, to put everything we were doing and did to the public judgment and to see where and how we would further go’’, the MMA’s head, Major General, Prof. Dr. Miodrag Jevtić said in his welcoming address to the representatives of more than 30 media agencies present to the New Year’s Reception hosted at the Military Medical Academy today.

General Jevtić gave a retrospective look at all the results the MMA had achieved over the last, 365 days stressing the following:

 - Res non verba, says the ancient Latin wisdom, which translated in Serbian means Deeds not Words! It is the motto all the MMA’s employees were led by over the resent months, but today, we need words to depict our deeds and to say to the Serbian public loudly and   soundly that the MMA is entering the New Year of 2011 with achieved great results and clear visions of our future development and progress, as well as with new 141 members of the Military Medical Academy, physicians and medical technicians, who were employed in the passing year.

Exactly as our Defence Minister Mr. Dragan Šutanovac said here, a few days ago, the 2010 was the year of crisis, but for the MMA and Military Medical Services in general it would be marked as the year of great achievements. All those valuable results were crowned with the award for the best healthcare facility in 2010, ’’Sun Clock’ prize awarded to us from the Clinical Center of Serbia

What are the most important results the MMA achieved in 2010? In short, the military report would go as follows: the number of medical services increased for 10-15%, numerous new diagnostic and therapeutic methods were introduced; let me mention some of them:  implantation of artificial pulmonary artery in the field of chest and cardiosurgery; visceral reconstruction of the  thoracic and abdominal aortic aneurysm in the domain of vascular surgery; revision surgery for the heap and the knee with extensive bone defects by using modular revision endoprosthesis in the sphere of orthopedic surgery, microincision catarct surgery  in ophthalmolpogy, device for insertion of cochlear implants in the field of otorinolaringology; intra-arterial thrombolysis in patients with acute cerabral infarction, balloon delatation of jugular veins in patients with multiple sclerosis, embolization of aneurysm in the area of interventional  radiology. Our neurosurgeons continued to successfully carry out the spine stablization program; they introduced new surgical methods for correction of idiopathic scoliosis,  performed 70 apheresis  of allogeneic and autologous haematopoietic stem cells and 17 allogeneic and 48 autologous haematopoietic stem cell transplants. Surgical application of stem cells for the myocardium was also performed.
 
Together with you, my dear representatives of the public, our colleagues from other healthcare institutions in Serbia and newly established Biomedicine Department, we tried to give through our deeds and show by our examples our high quality contribution to the Serbia Transplant Program and ’’Prolong the Life’’ National Action. This year, 11 liver transplant surgeries (10 cadaveric and 1 living donor transplant) and 21 kidney (14 living donor and 7 cadaveric) transplants were performed at the MMA. The number of transplantations performed so far at the MMA is estimated to be the following: 19 liver and 304 kidney transplants what coupled with the fact that our experts have trained their colleagues from the Niš Clinical Center for the Kidney Transplant Program, and started the same training program  with the transplant team in the Banja Luka Clinical Center, what all together may serve as a significant reference to assist the MMA’s nomination for the National Referral Solid Organ Transplantation Center

Surgical branches are not the only fields in which the MMA’s experts are achieving great results. They are equally successful in the fields of internal medicine –cardiology, pulmonology, gastroenterology, endocrinology, dermatology, neurology, preventive medicine and other fields. It would take time to list all individual results and valuable contributions to the Serbian medicine.

All in all, our Diagnostic Outpatient Clinic received this year around half a million patient visits, our Emergency Department medically managed 40 000 patients,  the MMA admitted 30 000 patients for hospital treatment, and performed 18 000 surgical procedures. Among our patient population, there is a great number of the civilian insured, i.e. the citizens of our country   referred to the MMA by their primary care physician based on the Agreement entered into with the National Health Insurance Institute 3 years ago which is being successfully implemented.. Since March 03, this year, we have also undertaken one more mission in the service of our people’s health, and that is, to serve one day in a week as the Emergency Center of the Serbian medicine. That is the mission we are successfully carry out!

All professional challenges are tested by scientific methods at the MMA, and the results of scientific research are implemented into our daily medical practice. Trials are conducted within the framework of 2 mega scientific projects encompassing 63 scientific research tasks covering various fields of medicine. There is a great number of experts involved in the work of those projects the results of which they report at the scientific events. In the course of this year only, our physicians participated in 159 national events and 97 international congresses.

We have got accreditation for our PhD and specialist study programs. These days, the MMA’s scientific research accreditation process is coming to an end, and upon our functional integration into the National Public Health System and accreditation of out study programs, the process of positioning of our institution within the Academic System of the Republic of Serbia could be completed.

During this year, 6 MMA’s members were educated and trained at several-month courses  run worldwide, from U.S.A. to Japan, whilst 13 OPCW members from the Hague  as well as 90 our colleagues from the country enriched and improved their knowledge in our institution. The internship program was completed by 186 interns and the student practice by 65 of them. We got accreditation for our Continuous Medical Education programs from the Serbian Health Council.

Our successful cooperation with medical schools in Belgrade, Kragujevac, Niš, Novi Sad, Kosovska Mitrovica was crowned by signing new protocols on cooperation and a historical meeting of the deans of all medical schools hold at the Military Medical Academy on November 12, this year. In that way we proved once again that the medicine is indivisible and that we serve the citizens of Serbia.  

We maintain an exceptional cooperative relationship with Faculties of Biology, Technology and Metallurgy, School of Dental Medicine and our colleagues within the country – can there be a stronger proof than the already mentioned valuable prize ’’Sun Clock’’ awarded to the MMA only two days ago. However, there are other healthcare facilities in the country as well as in the Republic of Srpska, Montenegro and Macedonia we successfully cooperate with. We, thus, confirm the thesis that we are the regional leader in numerous fields of medical profession and science.
 
Our institution is undergoing a process of extensive technological renewal in line with imperatives of modern medicine and strategic goals of the MMA Management and clear support of the Republic of Serbia Ministry of Defence. Two days ago, our Defence Minister Mr. Dragan Šutaovac officially put a new 128-slice CT scanner into operation,  what would considerably improve our diagnostic practice and numerous diagnostic procedures and reduce the patient waiting time as well. This year, we’ve started to operate a new Angio Block intended for interventional procedures, and we expect that our Barochamber would start to operate very soon. The detailed strategic investment plans have also been designed for the forthcoming period.

Our cadets, the students of the First Class of the MMA’s Advanced Medical School successfully completed their first year of study with the GPA of 9,14, thus, proving that they have justified our expectations and quite well understood our call  that goes like this: ’’It’s Time for the Young and Ambitious’’ Another 30 cadets enrolled in the Second Class. However, there was a great interest among the applicants. We even had 10 students with excellent grades applying for one vacancy. Is there any better proof for the MMA, the Military Health Service, Military Education and Defence Systems in general.
 
Our Reserve Officers School of Medical and Veterinary Services produced its 98th and 96th Classes as well as the First Class of physicians and veterinarians trained to start their professional military careers. It will be soon transformed into a Regional Training Center which would offer educational and training programs in various fields of medicine to our international colleagues from surrounding countries, and serve as the center for medical management of the wounded and sick in mass catastrophe situations.
 
Medicine knows no limits, and only through communication, exchange of knowledge and experience sharing one may serve to the health of the people and the country. Led by that sacred goal, we have established the bridges of cooperation with the largest military medical centers and health care facilities all over the world and keep on building new ones. Over the lat 12 months, this institution hosted the Commander of the Ohio National Guard, Gen. Wyatt, Hungarian Defence Minister, Mr. Imre Sekereš, as well as the highest representatives of the Kingdom of Norway Ministry of Defence, the Kingdom of Belgium, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, Denmark, Italy, Ukraine, Egypt, Libya, Iran, Namibia, World Health Organization , then our colleagues, professors Thomas John from the Loyola University Chicago, Jordan Saveski from Skoplje, John Wolf from London , Prof. Dr. Csaba Dzsinich  from Hungary, Sirin from Turkey said, etc.

They are all willing to cooperate with us on equal basis, share experiences and learn from us. However, we also want to take the advantage of their knowledge and introduce it into our routine daily practice. Therefore, we have sent this year several tents of our junior doctors –orthopedic, thoracic and vascular surgeons, clinical pharmacologists, internists - to the world for educational and training purposes.

The MMA accomplishes its large-scale and important activities within the Balkan Military Medical Committee framework. An important aspect of that cooperation is our participation in the international training activities and the UN-led peacekeeping missions in Chad and Congo, within which our members, as a part of the Serbian AF medical teams, represent the honor, reputation, professionalism and humanity of a Serbian Officer and a doctor

The fact that the health is  a reflection of the soul, and that the healthy body is a precondition for physical and spiritual well-being is well-known ever since, and that might be exactly the base for better and better cooperative relationships we have with numerous sportsmen and sports associations, and which have been crowned this year by signing the Protocols on Cooperation with the Athletic Federation of Serbia, Serbian Football Federation, provision of extensive medical support to competitions such were Serbia-Open Tennis Tournament, World Wrestling and Karate Championships, European Athletic Championship and many others,  already known to our public thanks to your reporting in the spirit of our strategic partnership.

Dear guests, distinguished media representatives, we are entering the New Year of 2011 with a slogan ’’Yesterday and Tomorrow. We are proud of everything we have achieved and accomplished, our long tradition, boldly looking towards our future. We wish you a New Year filled with health.
 
Health is wealth, a virtue and a value that does not come by itself. It means the balance of strength, energy and spirit based on the desire and readiness of a man to cope with all life’s challenges, boldly and without hesitation