Fraudsters! The Rajić Brothers Profit from the Struggles of Children with Diabetes: Behind It All Lies a Scam for Personal Gain
The Rajić brothers, Dušan and Stojan, self-proclaimed "champions" for children and people with diabetes, who present themselves as an institution (mind you!) under the brash name "Diabetes Revolution", have, over all these years of alleged fighting for children, managed to create personal promotion and profit. And the children suffering from diabetes have received from them – a big fat zero! While Kurir moved mountains. Literally! And now we're bothering them, and they’ve turned on us out of nowhere!
But they won't get away with it! Let's break it down step by step. Who are Dušan and Stojan Rajić? Personal trainers, according to them. The first has diabetes and used that as a springboard, along with his brother, to start a fight for others affected, especially children. Sounds great. There's even an initiative involving a million squats for kids and sensors. Anyone would say – OK, we support this. And many did, including well-known figures and the media.
“You know, I ran into them by chance, we've known each other for a while, they invited me for a drink, and started with: ‘We're fighting for the kids, support, humanity...’ And of course, any decent person would immediately say: ‘Let's help the kids!’ They, of course, immediately post a picture, and suddenly you’re their partner… By the time you figure out who they are, what they’re really like, how they’re using this for their own promotion, making money as personal trainers, selling their products…,” one well-known Belgrader tells us, preferring not to have their name publicly associated with the controversial brothers.
Another, even more well-known person, who once posed with their line of "healthy" sugar-free, protein-based products, said:
“I used to train with them, but we’re no longer in contact. They asked me, said it was a humanitarian thing. Why not, I respect humanitarian causes.”
The Rajić brothers still manage to worm their way in. And deceive a few. But for those who get to know them better, everything becomes clear. Even to a layperson, if you take a closer look at their pages on social media.
See the gallery. Kurir: Private Archive: Instagram – Dušan Rajić and the Rajić Brothers together
Their mouths are full of words about sick children, the struggles of kids and their parents, and the need for continuous glucose monitoring sensors. A device that measures sugar levels 24/7 and sounds an alarm when it nears dangerously low (hypoglycaemia) or dangerously high levels (hyperglycaemia). Yes, children should have these sensors. And they are entitled to them, funded by health insurance, under certain medical conditions, until they turn 18. They should have them even after that, as diabetes doesn't disappear when you become an adult. But that’s a topic for another time.
So, where did we go wrong with the brothers who claim they know better than endocrinologists?! The brothers who post mocking videos with the message: "An endocrinologist when they realise that seven years of university mean nothing compared to the information from the Diabetes Revolution." We crossed them because we succeeded! First, we spoke up clearly and loudly. We were the first to report that even a minister in the Serbian government buys popular sensors on the black market because they aren't registered in Serbia. The minister is breaking the law because a child's life is above the law! But the tragedy is not that the minister, who says he can afford it, pays for them – the tragedy is that parents who can’t afford it also do. Because for their child, they have to find the money, whether they have it or not.
We crossed them because we introduced the Protocol for Managing Students with Diabetes in Serbian Schools. The first of its kind in Serbian education, allowing children the right to use insulin and glucagon injections during class, among other things. After Kurir explained how it works in neighbouring Croatia, an EU member, and the model was adopted, the Ministry of Health took our template and created the protocol in February 2023. The Rajić brothers, self-proclaimed "champions" for children with diabetes for many years, were nowhere to be seen. Not before us, and not after us – nothing about protocols from the Rajić brothers.
We began the fight when children in Serbia had access to only one sensor, funded by the state. Today, they have several. But still not enough. Although from the Rajić brothers' posts, one might think that children have no right to free sensors at all.
Instagram - Kurir’s front page that bothers the Rajić brothers
We fought even when one public procurement threatened to return everything to the old days with just one sensor. The Rajić brothers, even then – nowhere to be found. Moreover, even before the problematic procurement was announced on the Public Procurement Portal, we know for sure, the Rajić brothers knew what could happen – a step backwards. And the great "fighters" remained silent. Just as they did when everything became public. Why? Good question. Still, we fought back.
But all the while, the Rajić brothers are blasting on social media and in the media about how they’re fighting for children with diabetes. Although, they can’t seem to agree on how many children in Serbia have diabetes – 5,500, 6,500, 7,000, 8,000, or 10,000. Their numbers change daily. They no longer know what or where they’re lying. For instance, they recently claimed on one TV show – 5,500 children, and then, a few days later, almost doubled the number – 10,000. Presumably to make themselves look like bigger fighters, bigger heroes. Because they are, as they write these days, close to victory, working day and night... What and how they work – you’ll see soon enough. Just be patient. There’s plenty of material here.
“We’re close to victory after years of fighting, especially in the last year, literally day and night, we’ve neglected our own lives and jobs, but the mission we want to achieve is our life’s goal,” the Rajić brothers write.
Ha! Ha! Ha! Should we all cry now? But jokes aside. The important question – why emphasise the last year so much? Simple – because Kurir, since January 2023, when the first article about sensors and struggles was published, has been intensely focusing on this topic. We introduced the protocol in schools, wrote about all the problems children and parents face, as well as public figures...
DON'T MISS OUT
SUPPORT FOR KURIR'S CAMPAIGN… DEKI PANTELIĆ'S SON AND DAUGHTER ALSO HAVE DIABETES: His wife had to run to the kindergarten to measure their sugar and give them insulin! THIS MUST BE RESOLVED FOR EVERYONE!
And now we come to the peak of the frustration of the fraudsters known as the Diabetes Revolution – on 31 August, the Ministry of Health announced that Minister Zlatibor Lončar met with representatives from Abbott and agreed on bringing their advanced "FreeStyle Libre 2" sensors to Serbia next year (which aren’t even registered in Serbia yet, so they must first go through the Medicines and Medical Devices Agency). We relayed the announcement. Those sensors, which the Minister of Tourism and Youth Husein Memić is still buying on the black market – which he admitted to Kurir on the same day. The article and Kurir's front page about our victory were published on 1 September. And it is indeed our victory and nothing else, as we were the ones who opened this important issue. And we stayed the course. In this case, as in many others, Kurir fights for the public interest and the interest of those affected. And we will not stop.
And the Rajić brothers – for themselves. Then the "fighters" and "humanitarians" scurried around seeking support for themselves, read: their own promotion. Posting pictures on social media. Even one from the street, in front of the building of multiple ministries in Nemanjina Street, which anyone from the street could take. But there’s no picture from the meeting inside, nor a story about badly it went.
And only 15 days after our article, they remembered our front page and that article, then took to social media to attack "journalistic scum", claiming we "lie to the public", and that they initiated everything and are responsible for everything. They even say that these sensors don’t exist, that there’s information that we’ll get them next year, but “that doesn’t mean we’ll get them for free, rather we’ll have to buy them, probably both children and adults 100%”, even though both ministers, by name, clearly stated that they would be free for children to start with, and that they will work to extend the right to free sensors. Then the Rajić brothers send us this message: "You screwed up a bit. Now we’re fighting both against Kurir, which lies to Serbian children, and against diabetes."
Instagram - Just one of many of our efforts in the fight for the rights of children with diabetes
In the meantime, the great fighters from Diabetes Revolution, apart from the noise they create to distract attention, are doing what they started all of this for – promoting themselves. And while they post pictures of grateful parents and children, because they "help" and "know more than endocrinologists", they also post photos of themselves in various states of undress. Bodybuilder Dušan Rajić takes photos of himself naked in the bathroom, wet, with just a towel around his waist. He shows off his muscles (presumably trying to say that he can train anyone who pays) but also flaunts the latest sensor from a manufacturer he’s been promoting for some time. Because now, according to him, he has the best sensor in the world.
Then there’s the business side of things – they’re personal trainers. So, while fighting for children, Dušan Rajić brings in famous people to train with him. They support the children, but also the business of the Rajić brothers. And so, once again, on the page where they supposedly fight for children, they show off the "prison step" in the gym, boasting about how in his 20 years of work he’s had many clients... The brothers have more business ventures and "ventures". There will be more to say on that later.
In the meantime, the brothers have grown even more nervous. And aggressive. So now Dušan Rajić is knocking on the doors of other media outlets, trying to get space to badmouth and promote himself. When that didn’t work, he took to social media to criticise "those who consider themselves experienced journalists and hosts", claiming they prefer to feature singers rather than him. He pathetically implies that singers are more important to them than children with diabetes and the fact that children don’t have sensors. Well, gentlemen, as you like to say: "You’ve screwed up a bit..."
In the past four days, we’ve been contacted by many people eager to share their stories about the "humanitarians" Dušan and Stojan Rajić. We encourage everyone, "partners" and institutions alike, to reach out to us. This is just the introduction. More is coming...
Editorial Team of Kurir / Jelena S. Spasić
Kurir