Late last night, the NGO Montenegro International (MI) addressed the Presidents of the Republic of Croatia and the Republic of Albania, Mr. Zoran Milanovic and Mr. Ilir Meta, with a request that both countries in the border area allow vaccination of the Montenegrin population to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe.
“We are addressing you with this S.O.S call for emergency assistance to the population of Montenegro, which has become a hostage of the destructive policy of the Ministry of Health and the Government of Montenegro. Our country is the third in the world in the number of infected and dead from Covid19, while we are tragically the first one in Europe. According to the official records, today there are 8,666 infected in Montenegro, and an incomparably higher number is suspected, again due to the complicated and expensive access to Covid19 tests. We also note that our organization requested from the Ministry of Health and the Institute of Public Health data on the number of tests on a daily basis at COVID 19, because there are suspicions and unofficial information that the Minister ordered to reduce the number of tests to officially show a smaller number infected people. There is no answer yet”, MI stated in the letter.
MI reminds that the Cabinet of the President of Montenegro, on January 21, informed the public that Montenegro was allocated humanitarian aid of 10,000 vaccines, but the Ministry of Health and the competent minister, whether due to irresponsibility or ignorance, or some other reason, refused the donation and endangered the right to health and life of the citizens of Montenegro.
“That is why we are forced to ask for urgent help from the relevant international addresses and friendly countries in the neighborhood. Vaccine donations offered to Montenegro from two addresses (investors Petros Stathis and Oleg Deripaska) in the amount of 150,000 individual vaccines against the virus are waiting to be delivered and used. From the day when they were available to Montenegro, that is, from the day when the Government remained silent on the offered help, 145 people died. Today, the 2,500 most endangered would receive the second dose, and in the coming days, that number would rise to as much as 75,000, and many lives lost in the meantime would be saved,” MI reported.
A member of NGO Montenegro International, who lives and works in Barcelona, informed about the humanitarian crisis in Montenegro and the state of emergency international organization “Doctors Without Borders”, which is located in Barcelona.
With this S.O.S. the call for emergency assistance, we ask the Republic of Croatia and the Republic of Albania for logistical support in the space (at least temporary or mobile facilities – ambulances with accompanying equipment), which meets the technical requirements for vaccine disposal, as well as in manpower (medical workers).
In the call for emergency assistance, MI proposes that the process of vaccination of the population of Montenegro would be enabled in the border area, in the territory of the Municipality of Konavle in Croatia and in the territory of the Municipality of Shkodra in Albania.
MI notes that they can provide support with its volunteers in order to ensure the order and functioning of the whole process for as long as it lasts.
“We hope that you will understand our need and request for urgent action in order to avoid the humanitarian catastrophe we are facing as a state. Every day is important to us because human lives are at a stake, while the health care system is on the verge of collapse”, concludes MI in the call for emergency assistance.
