On the occasion of holding the 11th Day of the Bosnian Academy of Sciences and Arts in BiH," we spoke with the current president of the Academy, prof. Ph.D. Emir Festić, during his stay in Sarajevo. Dr. Festić completed his medical degree at the Faculty of Medicine in Sarajevo and his specialization in internal medicine in New York. He successfully completed sub-specializations in intensive care medicine, pulmonology, and sleep medicine at the Mayo Clinic in the USA, where he received the title of full professor in 2018.
Ministry for Human Rights and Refugees: This is already the 11th BHAAAS Day in BiH; as president, how would you evaluate the results so far? Dr. Emir Festić: The number of scientific symposia is increasing year by year. Looking back a few years, it was noticeable that most of the members of the Academy were doctors and that medical symposia dominated the "Days of BHAAAS in Bosnia and Herzegovina." Today the situation is different; now we have a much larger number of technical symposia. As for the membership, we have grown and become gender balanced; today we have an equal number of women and men in the membership, or maybe even a slightly higher number of women. Until a few years ago, we were able to hold "Days of BHAAAAS" in smaller places that do not have sufficient hotel facilities, e.g., in Brčko or Zenica; however, this event is getting bigger and bigger, so this year we returned to Sarajevo again. We had to look for some new modes of organization, so we hired a professional agency for holding congresses of this type, which technically covered the organizational part. Also, this year's entire program can be followed through a mobile application for smartphones, which not only saved us money that would have been spent on printing but also increased environmental awareness among our members and participants. Also, the new edition of the scientific journal Acta Medica Academica, published by the Department of Medical Sciences at ANUBIH, is no longer in paper form but in electronic form and is available to all interested parties on the BHAAAS website (www.bhaaas.org). Although we have changed the way we work in recent years, the basic thread remained present from the first to the eleventh days of BHAAAS, which is the transfer of knowledge from the diaspora in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as inclusiveness and openness to the engagement of everyone who wants to exchange knowledge and experience, even artistic expression, because we are not only a scientific but also an artistic organization. Therefore, we are open to everyone who wants to exchange knowledge and experience.
Ministry of Human Rights and Refugees: Great activities are being carried out through BHAAAS. When you think about the further development of the academy, in which direction should you develop further since it seems that you have exceeded the framework that is available to you now and that you need some kind of expansion or additional support? Dr. Emir Festić: My first impressions after the second day of the 11th BHAAAS Day are that we should locate the event in several places and not in one place, as has been the practice so far. It is more organizationally efficient to go to several locations. For example, medical symposia could be held at medical faculties, lectures in hospitals, technical symposiums at mechanical, electrical engineering, or similar faculties. In that case, the faculties where the lecturers are visiting could help with the organization of a specific symposium and the provision of space. The fact is that one of the benefits of reflecting the symposium in one place is the networking of the lecturers and us members, but I believe that our work would be more effective if we visited more places, and the members could certainly gather at some of the cultural events that the Academy organizes every year. The goal of these symposia is to transfer the knowledge and experience of experts from different branches, so I think that this goal would be more complete if the lectures were held at faculties, where I believe a larger number of students would attend. What I want to emphasize is that the work of BHAAAS members is voluntary. Symposia are partially funded by membership fees paid by BHAAAS members, sponsors, and additional payments from our members. Also, we need to continue with the engagement of professional agencies for the organization of the meeting, as we did this year, which requires additional financial resources. The entire organization of the meeting was previously done only with the enormous effort of us and some other people whose job it is not. If we were to organize the Days of BHAAAS in several locations, then those institutions could also help us in organizing the gathering; they would work in cooperation with us and with the Ministry of Human Rights and Refugees.
Ministry of Human Rights and Refugees: BHAAAS already has some signed memoranda of cooperation. Dr. Emir Festić: Yes, we have. A memorandum of cooperation was signed with the Ministry of Human Rights and Refugees a couple of years ago, and during this year's "BHAAAS Days," we signed memorandums of cooperation with the Rectorate of the University of Sarajevo, the International University of Sarajevo, and the International Burch University in Sarajevo, and we opened the chapter of signing a memorandum of cooperation with the General Hospital in Sarajevo. We have had cooperation with the Sarajevo School of Science and Technology since before. So, there are already 5 institutions in Sarajevo that could be our partners in the organization of some future BHAAAS Days.
Ministry for Human Rights and Refugees: Are you in contact with other emigration organizations from Bosnia and Herzegovina that operate in the USA? Dr. Emir Festić: Yes, we are in contact with several organizations in North America, such as Bosana, BHeart, BAPA (Bosnian-American Professionals Association), and New England Friends of BiH. Since I have been the president of the Academy, my idea and plan is to connect with organizations from North America and later beyond that have a similar goal, which is to help Bosnia and Herzegovina. I put it together conceptually in the name of BAN (Bosnian American Network). We held several meetings via video link and heard several good ideas. These are organizations of different calibers, but I think that is not a disadvantage but an advantage, because everyone maintains their autonomy of work, but at the same time we connect and examine the possibilities where we can join together and actively collaborate. We proposed to organize camps for children and youth aged 12 to 16 or 16 to 20 years old. It would be very nice if children whose parents are members of these organizations could come to Bosnia and Herzegovina in an organized manner, where with a group of volunteers from both countries they would restore their language of origin, visit cultural sights, get acquainted with history and tradition, visit museums, and at the same time get to know and hang out with children from Bosnia and Herzegovina. When such foundations are created at an early age, the future is built on them. Children can be accompanied by teachers from both countries, and the best time for such camps would be from mid-June to mid-August. I certainly suggest that we mutually think about it and maybe organize something like that in the future with the support of the Ministry.
Ministry for Human Rights and Refugees: You are available to fellow doctors for online consultations, together with Dr. With Ognjen Gajić from the USA, also a member of BHAAAS, you hold video visits at the Clinic of Intensive Medicine for non-surgical branches of the University Clinical Center in Banja Luka. Can you tell us something more about it? Do you think that such telemedicine and teleeducation projects could be tools for intensifying the transfer of knowledge in Bosnia and Herzegovina? Dr. Emir Festić: Certainly. The video link provides opportunities for the continuous transfer of knowledge. It does not require a lot of time or financial resources and is easy to use. Also, it is important that multiple institutions, faculties, and clinics can be connected to the video link, which provides enormous opportunities for transferring and exchanging knowledge. We have been doing electronic visits in intensive care for 5-6 years, Dr.. Ognjen Gajić and me. We are both critical care subspecialists at the Mayo Clinic. When we got the opportunity to get involved in the project of opening an internist intensive care unit, we both accepted this volunteer work with open arms because we wanted the patients who were placed in that clinic to receive the best possible care. It all started in 2008 as a project of the French government. Then Dr.. Guillaume Thiery, an intensive care specialist from Paris, came to Sarajevo to establish this unit. At the time this unit was formed, the treatment system for critically ill patients was twenty years out of date compared to modern trends, so Dr. Gajić and I were always available to the employees for online consultations. Unfortunately, at the beginning of 2016, UKC Sarajevo discontinued the established intensive care unit, so the enormous success that had been achieved failed. Fortunately, a similar intensive care unit at UC Banjaluka continued its work there together with Dr. I still hold online consultations with Gajić when they are necessary. I can say with pleasure that today this intensive care unit in Banja Luka is on par with similar units in Zagreb, Belgrade, or Ljubljana.
(https://dijaspora.mhrr.gov.ba/)
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