A fundamental project carried out for children
Gian Vincenzo Zuccotti, dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery at the University of Milan and director of the Department of Pediatrics at the “Vittore Buzzi” Children’s Hospital in Milan, tells us about the week-long “mission” that ended on November 3, 2018, of DOCs for KiM in Kosovo and Metohija, a solidarity project conducted in collaboration with the Friends of Dečani association in the territory battered by the ‘1999 war.
“During the mission we met with 300 children, 200 in need of specialist visits and about 100 with general screening at schools, checking their development and health status, little to make a reliable statistic, enough to understand the problems and needs.”
“Emergencies very often range from neurology, ophthalmology, follow-up to deepening, dentistry and even type 1 diabetes mellitus, a common disease among young patients, we have also identified seven really serious emergencies and will try to give a concrete response to the need for first- and second-level care of these families.”
Docs for Kim Project
The Docs for KiM project is strongly desired and supported by writer, journalist and essayist Paolo Rumiz, president of the Amici di Dečani association, and involves a team of doctors and residents, led by Professor Zuccotti, including Marco Sala, chief of Pediatrics at Tradate Hospital, and, for the Children’s Hospital “Vittore Buzzi” in Milan Dario Dilillo, head of U.O.S. of the Pediatric Clinic and coordinator of the DOCs for KiM project, Sara Olivotto, child neuropsychiatrist, Fabio Meneghin, neonatologist, Ivanka Zdravković Dardi, ophthalmologist, Alessandra Bosetti and Erica Pendezza, clinical dieticians, and Lucia Barcellini, Stefania Del Sesto, Giulia Franchino and Laura Paradiso, pediatric residents, not to mention interpreters and cultural mediators Marko Dardi, Sandra Djurović, Jasmina Andonović and Sava Ognjenović.
“The mission was a wonderful experience, far beyond any rosy expectation,” these are the words of Dr. Dario Dilillo, coordinator of the DOCs for KiM project, but it is Alessandra Bosetti, clinical dietitian, who reiterates that “caring for young patients and their families involves not only medical interventions but also human warmth.
“The Amici dell’ infanzia Onlus Foundation for the year 2019 among the various projects in the pipeline raises funds for children in Kosovo, so that the mission will have a continuation in the future as well
– Gian Vincenzo Zuccotti
