The competition for the hiring of employees in healthcare institutions in the municipality of Graçanica was canceled on April 5th, after several days of protests by dissatisfied locals who claimed that the jobs were given to “suitable people,” closely linked to the largest Serbian party in Kosovo – the Serbian List.
In the decision published on the website of the Graçanica Health Center, it was stated that the competitions for hiring employees were canceled “due to the expiration of the 30-day deadline for making a decision on the selection of candidates.”
Healthcare institutions in Serbian-majority areas of Kosovo operate within the Serbian system, and the Ministry of Health of Serbia announced these competitions for new positions at the end of January. This hiring process coincided with the election campaign for the parliamentary elections in Kosovo on February 9th, in which the Serbian List participated – the only Serbian party with support from the official Belgrade.
The president of this party, Zlatan Elek, during the campaign said that “in the previous period, the state of Serbia provided a large number of jobs, and this is one of the ways for survival.” Elek is also the director of the Clinical Hospital Center in Mitrovica e Veriut, one of the four municipalities with a Serbian majority in northern Kosovo.
Dozens of locals, who had protested in recent days in front of the Health Centers in Graçanica, Ugljari, and Donja Gušterica, stated that the jobs in these healthcare institutions were exclusively given to people close to the Serbian List, and some of the individuals hired do not even live in Kosovo.
Petar Đorđević from Graçanica pointed out that pressure had been applied to the protesters, urging them to “document the threats.”
Radio Free Europe on April 4th reached out to the Serbian List to comment on citizens’ accusations of party-based hiring and the pressure they had faced, but no response was received. Similarly, the Ministry of Health of the Government of Serbia, which is responsible for healthcare institutions in Serbian areas of Kosovo, did not provide any comment.
