Today, the director of the University Clinical Center Tuzla Prof. Dr. Šekib Umihanić hosted a reception for representatives of the “Mental health for all” Foundation.
The meeting was an opportunity to discuss the project implementation progress “The Department for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry” at the Clinic for Psychiatry.
Prof. Dr. Izet Pajević, neuropsychiatrist, sub- specialist in clinical psychiatry and psychotherapy and director of the Foundation “Mental health for all” on the occasion said that the idea for the establishment of the Department for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry originated in 1994, and that the Foundation was established with the aim of collecting funds for that purpose. From part of the collected funds, the building that is located next to the Psychiatry Clinic was adapted, and currently nearing the end of the contractor’s work. With prof. Prof. Dr. Pajević, the meeting was also attended prof.Dr. Mevludin Hasanović, chief neuropsychiatrist, president of the Board of Directors of the “Mental Health for All” Foundation.
Prof. Dr. Hasanović pointed out that the establishment of a modern institution for the needs of the most sensitive population would enable timely and adequate professional help, which until now has been unjustifiably avoided for fear of stigmatization and unconditional treatment, thereby prolonging the suffering of the child and the dysfunctionality of the family.
Director Umihanić said that this project represents a capital investment that affects the improvement of the social standard of the most vulnerable part of the population and realizes public interests multiple times, and the Clinic for Psychiatry has educated staff that can meet the needs of working with children and adolescents.
The Government of the Tuzla Canton also provide significant support to the realization of the project” the Department for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry” at the Clinic for Psychiatry, University Clinical Center Tuzla by allocating 300,000 KM from its budget to the project.
During the meeting, they also discussed the scientific work of Tuzla psychiatrists, who received a prestigious award from the Austrian Association for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. The scientific paper “Bosnian war orphans – Mental health in the post-war period” was published in July 2023 in the prestigious American professional journal “Journal of Neurological and Mental disorders”. It is is a peer-reviewed medical journal in the field of neurology and psychiatry with the longest tradition in the United States of America. The paperwork is written based on data from the doctoral dissertation of Prof. Dr. Nermina Kravić under the mentorship of Prof. Dr. Pajević Izet, and the publication of the paperwork resulted from the cooperation of psychiatrists from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Austria and Spain. Prof. Dr. Kanita Dervić from the Medical Faculty of the University of Vienna, Austria made a great contribution to this publication with her professional expertise.
The published paperwork is proposed for the annual “Ernst Berg” award in the field of social psychiatry, which is awarded by the Association of Child and Adolescent Psychiatrists in Austria. In March of the current year, the paper work was awarded the first prize as one of the two best articles published in 2023. The said paperwork has a double value; represents an effort to use objective, scientific methodological procedures to make an assessment of the psychological consequences that the war left on young generations. Also, the importance of this work is that it brought together local psychiatrists who are originally from Bosnia and Herzegovina, and are now successful in the world and want to use their experience and expertise to help scientific progress in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is an example of good cooperation between domestic and experts who now live and work abroad with the aim of improving quality, professional and scientific improvement and exchange of knowledge and experience.
The prize will be awarded on April 25, 2024 in Pöllau bei Hartberg, Austria at the General Assembly of the Association of Child and Adolescent Psychiatrists of Austria. The award ceremony will be attended by the first author of the article Prof. Dr. Nermina Kravić, on which occasion she will present her work, present our country and thank the expert committee of the Association. Director Prof. Dr. Umihanić expressed his satisfaction with the aforementioned achievements and congratulated on winning the award. Representatives of the Foundation “Mental health for all” used this opportunity to announce, as members of the Association of Psychiatrists in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the holding of an expert meeting that will be held in Tuzla from September 26 to 28, 2024, on the topic “Treatment of personality disorders in children and adolescents”.
