IN SWEDEN THE SALARY IS €4,500, BUT IT'S NOT ALL ABOUT MONEY! Dr Bajić: ‘My wife and I returned to Serbia with our 4 children!
“True, in Sweden a specialist doctor earns an average salary of about €4,500, compared to around €1,700 in Serbia. But, it's not all about money. There's something in the soul too. We don’t have to live to the same standard; we can drive worse cars. What's important to us is that our four children will grow up in their own country, among our people, and with our values, and we are, finally, returning home,” says surgeon Dr Boris Bajić, who, along with his wife Duška, an endocrinologist, will soon begin working at CHC Dr Dragiša Mišović, as soon as all the paperwork is finally completed.
This married couple became a sensational news story when the President of the country, Aleksandar Vučić, announced their return to Serbia from Sweden. They can’t get used to the idea that this is so unusual and that they are newsworthy, because for them, it’s perfectly normal to return home - to their Serbia. This was something they had planned even when they left for Sweden after finishing their studies, where they had met. The same country where Boris, originally from Sarajevo with a brief childhood spell in Užice, had moved with his family at the age of eight. But he came to Belgrade to study and graduate in medicine.
“I was born in Belgrade. This is my city, my favourite. When we set off for Sweden, where we really lacked for nothing and everything works, we knew we would return once we completed our specialisations. Serbia is home and we are simply returning to our home,” says Duška for Kurir, who was the top student of her year, while Boris adds:
“Perhaps our return a year or two sooner was sped up by our son Miloš, who is 14 years old and has been through all the camps of our national basketball team. He is talented, now he is with Red Star, and has non-stop training. The children are so happy here that it's indescribable, they have easily integrated into school and made friends. Yes, everything in Sweden is orderly and nice, but we long for Serbia, our people, who will always help you, a kind of fellowship that doesn’t exist anywhere else in the world. Truthfully, I also miss the good weather. When I see the sun and the sky, it immediately puts a smile on my face.”
The Bajić family has three other daughters, and the youngest will celebrate her first birthday on Saturday. The children are happy, but those who go to school are a bit surprised.
“They have integrated well, they have been learning Cyrillic from a young age, so nothing is a problem. It's just that the school is more demanding; they have to study more than in Sweden,” says Duška with a smile, who came to Belgrade last summer with the children.
“Since we couldn’t afford for me not to work, I was travelling to Sweden for two weeks for work, then staying two weeks in Belgrade and so on, until the end of March. Now I hope that I can, finally, start work and sort out all the paperwork, because it really has dragged on. The university hospital in Sweden, one of the most renowned in Europe where I worked, can’t send accreditation to Serbia because such a system doesn’t exist there for hospitals. So, we lost a few months, but fortunately, we made contact with the Minister of Health, Prof. Dr. Danica Grujičić, who got involved and helped. And she promised that this would be systematically resolved because of other people who are in a similar situation. I should get apostilles on my diplomas this week, send them over, and finally take up my position,” says Boris, while Duška, who is still with the baby, just has to wait for her papers:
“I’m waiting for the certification of my specialisation, and I even waited six months for the recognition of my years of service. Until all that is resolved, I am enjoying time with the children.”
And why specifically CHC Mišović? Besides remembering it from seminars and university days, they’ve heard nothing but the best about it - that it's a modern, European clinic where the professionals are skilled and the people are kind.
“I've met my colleagues, and I'm charmed by how good and expert these people are. I am a general surgeon, specializing in laparoscopic operations for hernias and gallbladders, and I also perform other surgeries,” says Boris, who with his brothers founded the Serbian basketball club Sloga Uppsala in Sweden, which competes in the second tier of that country:
“We always try to bring Serbs together, to socialize and support each other. But, Serbia is Serbia. There's nothing like Serbia...”
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Jelena S. Spasić
