The most modern veterinary institute will soon start operating in Sarajevo, in which will be tested infectious animal diseases. We need this institute because we have no data on the prevalence of bacteria of animal origin that are attacking humans.
According to Prof. Dr. Nihad Fejzic, the Dean of the Veterinary Faculty in Sarajevo, it is expected for this facility to be ready for technical acceptance and issuance of the use permission at the beginning of June this year, and after that, they will proceed with the transfer of equipment from the existing laboratory.
The laboratory in Stup, as an organizational unit of Veterinary Medicine, will represent a scientific research center for three important areas which are considered to have the character of a global health risk today: diseases that affect animals, zoonosis or diseases that are affecting people and animals, and the problem of resistance of microorganisms to antibiotics.
“When it comes to the new workplaces, everything depends on the approved financing, and our initial plans are to cover the operation of laboratory with existing staff and experts this year, and then to open the process of recruitment of new, young, and ambitious scientists and experts at the beginning of the next year,” said Dean of the Veterinary Faculty in Sarajevo.
The construction of the laboratory was financed by the World Bank so far, and a total of 3.5 million BAM were spent on the construction part and an additional 500,000 BAM were allocated from the funds of Canton Sarajevo on infrastructural works.
“Additionally, the Government of the FBiH approved 1.280.000 BAM for completion of works and equipment, so that we have enough funds to put the laboratory into the function. In this kind of laboratories, the biosafety is its most expensive and most valuable function, then experts and then, at the last place, the equipment. Laboratory equipment gets outdated very fast and, for example, molecular methods have become routine in the diagnosis and the research of diseases, and they were exclusively methods for scientific projects just 5 years ago,” concluded Prof. Dr. Nihad Fejzic.
(Source: Radiosarajevo.ba)