GAK Visegradska: Ceiling Panels Fall, Accounts Differ
The UKCS says no one was hurt and the room was empty, while staff told the weekly Vreme that a nurse was injured.
Ceiling panels have fallen at the Clinic for Gynecology and Obstetrics of the University Clinical Center of Serbia (UKCS), better known as GAK Visegradska, and there are two accounts of what happened. The UKCS says several suspended panels fell in an emptied room and that no one was hurt. Staff told the weekly Vreme that part of a ceiling came down on October 10 and that a nurse was injured.
What does the UKCS say?
The UKCS statement, published on the institution’s website on October 21, says the panels fell in one of the rooms adjoining the part of the building where reconstruction work is under way. According to the statement, that room had been emptied earlier precisely because it was close to the works. The UKCS media office states: “At the time the panels fell, there were neither patients nor employees in it.”
Clinic management, the statement continues, temporarily moved newborns out of other rooms on the same floor:
“As a precaution, the clinic’s management decided to temporarily move newborns out of other rooms on the same floor, as an additional safety measure. No baby, new mother or employee was injured. All measures were taken preventively, with the aim of avoiding any potential risk.”
The statement does not say when the panels fell.
What do staff claim?
Vreme reports that it received footage from employees showing that part of a ceiling came down, and that the UKCS, when asked by the paper, confirmed that part of a ceiling collapsed in one room. According to Vreme’s sources, a window also fell on October 10, hitting a nurse who was injured. Staff say the babies were moved from the fourth floor to the first.
Employees also told Vreme about the condition of the building as a whole. In their words, new contractors who were brought in found that the waterproofing had been stripped from the roof:
“The new contractors who were brought in noted that the waterproofing had been removed from the roof and that all of it will collapse with the first rain.”
On-call doctors, the same sources say, report hearing the beams creak. Since the start of the week, sewage from part of the building has been discharged through a hose pushed out of a window and onto the street. Staff stress that this is a consequence of the reconstruction, not of the ceiling collapse. Vreme’s sources also claim they were ordered to stay silent and that Health Minister Zlatibor Loncar is pressing for the information to be kept from the public. These claims have not been confirmed.
Where do the accounts differ?
- Injuries: The UKCS says no one was hurt; staff speak of an injured nurse.
- What fell: The UKCS speaks of suspended ceiling panels in an empty room; staff describe part of a ceiling and a window that fell on a nurse.
- Babies: The UKCS says they were moved out of other rooms on the same floor; staff say from the fourth floor to the first.
The director of GAK Visegradska, Dr Aleksandar Stefanovic, told the portal Nova.rs by phone that none of this happened and that no one was injured, and asked for the questions to be sent by email. Nova.rs says it had not received answers by the time of publication. In a piece published on October 21 at 15:11, the same portal also reported that the UKCS media office had not yet answered Vreme’s inquiry.
Reconstruction in an occupied clinic
The contract for the reconstruction of the Clinic for Gynecology and Obstetrics was signed on July 7, 2025, and work began on September 10, 2025. The deadline for completing the whole project is two years. The clinic keeps operating in the meantime: births continue, and patients with high-risk pregnancies remain in hospital care. According to the official information cited by Vreme, everything is going to plan and there have been no incidents so far.
