The Mayor Of Kragujevac Nikola Dašić meets Professor Ventura, the renowned Spanish spine surgeon

The Mayor Nikola Dašić met today with Professor Norberto Ventura, spine surgeon with specialization in surgery of scoliosis and the spinal column in general, who is currently performing surgeries on patients, mostly children, with the most severe spinal deformities at the University Clinical Center of Kragujevac.

The reason for my visit to the Clinical Centre is to meet the renowned spine surgeon dr. Norberto Ventura, who has been performing surgeries here since 2018. The established collaboration with dr.Ventura is of a great importance not only for Kragujevac, but also for Serbia. The surgeries of spinal deformities are very expensive medical procedures which used to be previously carried out abroad and are financed by The National Health Insurance Fund of the Republic of Serbia.

They are now performed at the University Clinical Centres of Kragujevac and Niš at a ten times lower expense. Dr. Ventura has also established a cooperation with the Orthopedic Clinic in Belgrade, mayor Dašić said, and he also added that the work with dr. Ventura is of a great importance for our team of doctors.

The experience gained through the work with dr. Ventura is priceless for doctors from Kragujevac who successfully acquire knowledge with the ambition to perform these surgeries on their own.

Dr. Srđan Vlajović, the chief of the Department of spine surgery of the Clinic of orthopedics and traumatology, says that, after a slight break due to the pandemic, the collaboration with the world’s leading spine surgeons, especially with dr. Ventura, is going to be continued in the future. We performed around eighty surgeries on patients with the most severe spinal deformities which could previously only be carried out abroad. This collaboration gave us the necessary experience to do the most demanding interventions on our own, and also made great savings for our Fund, because these patients did not go abroad for surgery, says Vlajović.

Dr. Slobodan Milisavljević, the director of the University Clinical Centre of Kragujevac, says that the greatest benefit of this cooperation is that the children with the most severe spinal deformities do not have to go abroad, since they have been successfully operated on in Serbian hospitals. He also said that, in this way, our spine surgeons gain necessary experience. Further improvements are planned in the field of robotic surgery and they will be discussed in the future.

Professor Norberto Ventura says that he has performed around eighty spinal scoliosis surgeries at the University Clinical Centre of Kragujevac. There are two types of scoliosis – the neuromuscular type which causes respiratory problems and the idiopathic type. The treatment of the neuromuscular scoliosis is more complicated; it requires better operative technique, and the risks are higher. I am satisfied with the results because there were no major or significant complications – says prof. Ventura.

He plans to continue coming to Serbia and Kragujevac where he feels comfortable and satisfied. According to him, the University Clinical Center of Kragujevac has all the conditions for the most demanding surgeries, and he is pleased to work with the team of doctors and staff that he has met.

Patients who rely on the professional help of dr. Ventura come from all over Serbia.