YUGOSLAVIA: HOSPITAL FOR SICK CHILDREN IN BELGRADE STUGGLES TO COPE THROUGH NATO AIR STRIKES

Record ID: 174373

  • Title: YUGOSLAVIA: HOSPITAL FOR SICK CHILDREN IN BELGRADE STUGGLES TO COPE THROUGH NATO AIR STRIKES
  • Date: 24th May 1999
  • Summary: BELGRADE, YUGOSLAVIA (MAY 24, 1999)(REUTERS) 1. PAN DOWN EXTERIOR INSTUTUTE FOR MOTHER AND CHILD HEALTH PROTECTION IN BELGRADE WITH THE AIR RAID SYRENS SOUNDING 0.13 2. SLV WOMAN CARRYING A BABY IN HER ARMS RUNNING FOR SHELTER 0.24 3. MV/SCU INTERIOR ILL CHILD IN THE HOSPITAL IN HIS BED (2 SHOTS) 0.33 4. VARIOUS OF SMALL CHILDREN RECEIVING BLOOD TRANSFUSIONS (4 SHOTS) 0.56 5. VARIOUS NURSE GIVES TRANFUSION TO ONE OF THE CHILDREN (3 SHOTS) 1.15 6. SV SOUNDBITE (English) SRDJAN PASIC, A PEDIATRICIAN SPEAKING: "In the last couple of days we did not have electricity for 24 hours. And we have a generator to supply power only for the central light in this ward. We were without water for the last 24 hours too. Fortunately, no one has died so far. But, I'm afraid that if this situation continues then someone will." 1.46 7. PAN DOWN/CU/SCU WATER BOTTLES (3 SHOTS) 2.03 8. SCU/CU NURSE BOTTLE-FEEDING BABY (2 SHOTS) 2.12 9. PAN UP/WS NURSE ATTENDING BABY IN AN INCUBATOR (2 SHOTS) 2.27 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 8th June 1999 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BELGRADE, YUGOSLAVIA
  • City:
  • Country: Yugoslavia
  • Reuters ID: LVA63B344UEIX8RK94IV35XYE3Z7
  • Story Text: Bottles of Coca Cola filled with water beneath a sink
    and a small-power generator make a difference between life and
    death for children in a Belgrade hospital.

    Dr Srdjan Pasic, a paediatrician at the Insitute for
    Mother and Child Health Care in Belgrade, took reporters on a
    tour of the intensive care unit of the hospital on Monday (May
    24).The unit can treat about 400 children, from newborns to
    teenagers with chronic diseases.

    "In the last couple of days we did not have electricity for
    24 hours.And we have a generator to supply power only for the
    central light in this ward.We were without water for the last
    24 hours too.Fortunately, no one has died so far.But, I'm
    afraid that if this situation continues then someone will,"
    Pasic said.

    Premature babies slept in beds and incubators.Nurses fed
    those awake.The power was back and machines were keeping them
    warm and alive.

    The 13-storey hospital building, with huge windows, came
    close to serious damage when NATO mistakenly hit the Chinese
    embassy some 500 metres (yards) away, and the Jugoslavija
    hotel, not more than 400 metres away.

    Pasic said that the windows shook but did not break.More
    damage was done to older children psycologically.

    According to Doctor Gordana Bunjevacki, the head of the
    Institute, 24-hours without power had destroyed all the blood
    products kept in the deep freezer.

    Two nine-year old children, a girl with a broken arm from a
    car crash and a boy with two-day old gall surgery, lay next to
    each other.Both said they were in pain and were frightened
    when the air raid sirens went off.

    Some 10 minutes later, the sirens blared in Belgrade.In
    front of the hospital, a young mother carrying a baby rushed
    for shelter.


  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register