Parents' House in Tuzla will provide continuous accommodation for children with cancer and their families, and the initiator of this project is the Association Heart for Kids with Cancer (Srce za djecu).
Certain funds for this purpose have already been secured, and the Director of the Association, Fikret Kubat, points out that the construction of the house will in the second half of this year.
"This time, we will not have any problems regarding the construction of the house, because we see that there is a commitment of the management of the Clinical Center Tuzla, the Government of Tuzla Canton and parents. We want to inaugurate the building next year, the conceptual design has been completed, and just yesterday we received a donation in the amount of 25,000 KM. The facility will have a living room and five apartments. We have a great deal of work ahead of us but we believe it will be a success," said Mr. Kubat.
The Ministry of Health of Tuzla Canton, on ​​the request of Clinical Center Tuzla, has submitted a motion to allow the Clinical Center to register a certain part of the land on which the Parents' House will be built. This is a plot located in the park of the Clinic for Children's Diseases in Tuzla.
"I hope this will soon be in parliamentry procedure. I have no doubt that this will be unanimously adopted, because the existence of such a house is an immeasurable contribution of the Association and generally of all those who will participate in this. Cancer is not just a child's illness, the entire family is affected by it. The cacner treatment lasts for many months, even years, and we must ensure in every possible way that these children and their families have, at least during treatment, a life that resembles the one in their home," said Minister of Health of Tuzla Canton Bahrudin Hadžiefendić.
Nearly three years ago, the Parents' House accomodating pediatric cancer patients and their families was opened in Sarajevo, and one of the first beneficiaries was Atifa Buldić-Bešić, who was staying at the House with her daughter (3, leukemia).
"This house is of immense importance, not only for children and parents, but for the whole community. We spent seven months at the Parents' House in Sarajevo, and we had support all the time. My daughter felt safe, she ran around the house, played with other children and dealt with hair loss much easier when surrounded by other little bald heads. I would like to use this opportunity to thank the whole team of the Children's Clinic in Tuzla because they were the first step in my daughter's treatment. As a family, we are grateful for a timely diagnosis because, if it was not for them, we wouldn't have a smile on our child's face today," said Atifa, a mother who - together with her daugther - came out victiorious out of this difficult battle.
Director of the Clinical Center Tuzla Nešad Hotić said at today's press conference that all administrative prerequisites have been met regarding the construction of this facility.
"Building of the Parents' House in Tuzla is just a finishing touch of what the painstaking work of all the UKC staff in Tuzla and the Clinic for Children's Diseases. It is a great success that we reached that point where we can diagnose the most serious illnesses in children, then radiologically and pathohistologically confirm them, operate on them and, in the end, administer the best chemotherapy protocols to our little patients which leads, in great percentage, to survival," Hotić said, adding that the Parents' House will be one of the most beautiful objects in Tuzla and the surroundings.
The Department of Hematology and Oncology at the Clinic for Children's Diseases in Tuzla in the past year has renewed its resources, thus completing the circle of diagnosis, treatment and administration of chemotherapy to pediatric cancer patients.
Cancer treatment in children is a painstaking and demanding job, and according to the World Health Organization data 300,000 children are registered with some form of cancer, each year. The survival rates range from 80 to 90 percent, and the Clinic for Children's Diseases in Tuzla falls well within these global ranges.
In 2018, at the University Clinical Center in Tuzla, 12 children were diagnosed with some form of cancer.
