KON'S FAREWELL INTERVIEW: Vučić gets in touch whenever I write to him, when he suffers injustice, or is under pressure, I text him

"I'm going into retirement; Monday, 26 September is officially my last day at work. I have mixed feelings about it. I'm not sad, far from it, I'm actually looking forward. However, retiring won't make me suddenly wither away. I'm capable of offering more, but I have no intention of working out of pure enthusiasm, but for a fee."

Was this your or someone else's decision, given that you met the conditions for requirement a long time ago and the Minister of Health wants pensioners to go home?

"I adhere to the decisions of the Government, and if they come from the Minister of Health, then I believe I shouldn't be in the way at any rate. The fact that this has become public, that lists are being made with names of those who should retire, was for me a reason to accept such a decision."

Did someone say to you that you needed to pack your things?

"Someone certainly suggested it to me, if you will, and I thank them for it."

Who was it?

"I will keep that to myself. The point is that it was my decision."

Will you still be active? Do you already have private engagements?

"I don't, I've never done anything under the counter. I'm officially getting retired, and as of 26 December, my professional attitude towards work changes."

What is the first thing that you will do on 26 December?

"I will say good-bye to my associates, and I also need to prepare the documentation and submit it to the PDI Fund. I have nearly 44 years of service and almost 40 years of active work."

You also have the reduced service retirement benefit because you have worked with the Armed Forces?

"I received 24 months for one year for my service during the war."

What sentence summarizes the 40 years?

"Tilting at windmills."

More specifically?

"It's been a full 40 years, and the society still isn't aware of the importance of public health institutions and the fight to preserve the health of the population. People don't know what an epidemiologist does, no one sees us until a crisis comes along. Then everyone starts crying out, "Help!" The degradation of preventive medicine is best seen in funding. You cannot have heads of institutes struggling each month with handing out pay checks, while the others, the clinicians, receive their salaries from the budget unperturbed."

Whose criticism has hurt you the most?

"When a friend said, 'What are you doing in their company?!' That was the biggest insult. I wasn't in anyone's company, I was just with the government and those who represent it. And there are some among them that I have a profoundly different opinion of now, realizing how hard they're fighting for our country. The President of Serbia left me with a different impression than before. He gets in touch every time I write to him."

When was the last time that you wrote to him and what about?

"Two months ago. When he's suffering a tremendous injustice or is put under a lot of pressure, I send him a message of support, and he thanks me every time."

What about the Prime Minister?

"The Prime Minister was very fair. I've had verbal confrontations with her, but they were all polite. I have no objections to her work except when she didn't follow our suggestions."

Did the authorities provide support in that crisis period?

"That's a very sensitive issue. There were two periods there. At the very beginning, we had enormous support. Later on, there was still communication, sometimes quite discordant, but still acceptable."

What was the watershed moment?

"When the state of emergency was lifted [N.B. 6 May 2020], which was perceived in society as the end of the epidemic."

The announcements back then were along the same lines.

"I had never said that, nor had anyone else, except for some individuals from the so-called medical wing of the Task Force."

Professor Nestorović?

"He had different opinions quite often, but we successfully resolved that within the Task Force for a period of time."

Do the June 2020 elections have anything to do with that?

"No, they have absolutely nothing to do with that. Whether someone was being calculating about it, that I cannot say. The elections certainly had to be held at that time, because otherwise the Government would be illegitimate. And that was the most favourable moment. All other stories are pure speculation."

What followed in July was a Covid apocalypse.

"That's a different matter. People were divided into those who thought the pandemic was a good opportunity to unite in the fight against the virus, without any clashes, and those who preferred confrontations to get more airtime. My personal position was clear from the beginning until the end – my policy is that of an epidemiologist. Those who tried to initiate clashes formed an association, which looked spontaneous in the beginning and was quite attractive – United Against Covid (UAC). I was the only person in the Task Force who supported the UAC after they'd formed, and said that they could only help, given what they were called. I expected that the UAC would always support the medical wing of the Task Force. However, I'm very disappointed that they dragged into it some well-intentioned people and medical doctors who were dissatisfied with the overall situation, as were most of us. And then a handful of people misused that organization, in the same way they claimed that we were being misused by the political powers-that-be."

You don't feel misused?

"Not only do I not feel misused, but I put up quite a resistance to that idea. Under the Hippocratic Oath, teachers are always to be respected, and I'd like to add – even when what they're saying is… well, let's not be too crude here… However, these teachers, rather than giving their support to the medical wing of the Task Force, kept attacking it ferociously. And they were dead wrong regarding the matter, a mistake for the history books. The idea that medical professionals would run the state is truly infantile. You don't have that anywhere in the world."

You and the other Task Force doctors went from being treated almost like gods in the beginning to not being taken seriously at all.

"I don't see it that way. I have been praised, and people approach me in the street. But I'm still attacked, but rarely though. The last attack occurred after the man that I've sued had made a statement, and then someone cursed at me in the street."

It is one thing how ordinary people treat you, and quite another how the authorities do.

"Back in the beginning, I said that I am a man who responds to the calls of the state. I decided not to leave the position given to me in trust at any cost."

And you've suffered through it all?

"So far, I have."

So you are a soldier?

"That's right. If the Government needs the help of those seen as prominent experts, then it is only to be expected that society supports these people, who are not politicians. Make no mistake – they're not politicians, but they sometimes are in official positions and need to think about their positions. My position was ideal – I was nearing retirement, and I felt all the same about what my fate would be."

Are you trying to say that an expert should be calculating?

"Someone younger than me absolutely had to think about their future."

Where doesHippocrates come in here?

"It was Hippocrates himself who said that those who are elected are to be supported, not clashed with. The Hippocratic Oath says that my colleagues will be my brothers, rather than that I should attack them by claiming that a few or a handful of them are responsible for the deaths of many tens of thousands of people. That is politics."

You say many tens of thousands, but officially we have had a little more than 17,000 Covid-related deaths.

"The statistics clearly show that 60,000 is our excess mortality for the whole period of the pandemic, which calls for a detailed analysis. However, to use that in a one-sided fashion for dubious political purposes is pointless and insolent. The entire population's health condition should not be ignored."

Now you are close to the Minister of Health's standpoint regarding whether the deaths were from Covid or with Covid.

"This standpoint isn't just the Minister of Health's, it is simply a fact. I'm not relativizing or downplaying its importance – after all, I was the first one to point that out back when the excess mortality stood at a few hundred in September 2020. My colleagues are obviously reserved when it comes to such an analysis."

Are they being calculating?

"That's possible, I don't know. However, it certainly merits a detailed analysis."

If you were five or 10 years younger, would you raise that issue?

"Of course I would. What people are trying to pin solely on the government is insolence – it is a far more serious matter. The question remains how we had reached a point where we had such a general health-related situation in Serbia that we could have expected a far stronger pandemic blow than others. The anti-vaxxers saw an opening, some of them used it politically, and got into Parliament. I can say for myself that my conscience is clear."

You have not received any money during all this time?

"No money at all."

But then someone might say that you got your son a job at Air Serbia!

"Where is my son now? At Air Serbia? No!"

Where is he?

"He went back to his previous company – they pleaded with him and gave him a higher salary."

What is your biggest mistake?

"I have made no mistakes, either in my profession or in treating my friends."

You are very confident.

"Everyone makes mistakes, but I'm not aware of making any. They can drag me through the mud all they want, history will reveal the truth!"

Kurir.rs/Jelena S. Spasić