“Thank you, thank you,” is all Andrej managed to say in a new hospital bed, after a full day of rescue action. The numerous people who ensured that he finally started living a life with human dignity visibly moved him.

How little is needed to save a human life could be observed in Kočevje these days. From Saturday, when we first reported on the ordeal of 59-year-old local Andrej, less than 60 hours have passed. Just a few moments ago, he began a new chapter in life.

Andrej, who has been lying in a dilapidated and cold room for four months due to leg pain, has completely weakened muscles. His return to normalcy will take quite some time. However, a rescue and cleaning action, triggered by the Kočevje Municipality following our reports, took place today. It changed Andrej's future in just five hours.

After a morning meeting at the municipality, attended by all directors of public institutions who have neglected Andrej for months, a team of municipal workers, cleaners, plumbers, and Red Cross volunteers gathered in the crumbling house on Rožna Street.

Together, they ensured that the conditions in Andrej’s apartment meet the minimum living standards. Workers and volunteers cleaned the floor, discarded old and moldy equipment, removed damaged appliances, and cleared away containers with waste. In the afternoon, they placed a new hospital bed, adjustable in height. Only this way Andrej will be able to start rehabilitation and regular physiotherapy to regain muscle strength. When they laid him between freshly scented sheets, he immediately grabbed an elastic band and started stretching. Andrej, whose illness has confined him to bed after 30 years of work, is firmly determined to get back on his own feet as soon as possible.

Warm water flowed from the tap for the first time

“The goal is for Mr. Andrej to live in better, more suitable living conditions by Friday,” said the Mayor of Kočevje Dr. Vladimir Prebilič. In the morning, he informed Andrej about the progress of the rescue action. The mayor also submitted a request for Andrej’s admission to a nursing home. There, they can provide Andrej with institutional care and help him with personal hygiene. The goal is to get Andrej back on his feet in a supervised environment. “I am thrilled that Mr. Andrej wants to start anew, and I commit to ensuring that the local community enables him to do so,” the mayor said decisively.

“We are looking for solutions,” emphasized Emir Kuduzović, the director of the Kočevje Health Center. He assured us a doctor would visit Andrej in the coming days to perform all the diagnostics offered by the health centre. Based on the findings, they will then assess whether he needs to be hospitalized. “Hospitalization overnight is not possible. However, on Thursday, occupational therapists will visit Andrej. His biggest problem is weakened muscle tone. Much will also depend on Andrej. He will need to make an effort and regularly perform prescribed exercises. The home care service will also visit Andrej to monitor blood pressure and adjust therapy as needed.”

After four months, Andrej will also need a proper wash. Not only did he not have a functional sink, but even warm water had not flowed from the taps for several months or even years.

Now that volunteers have provided him with a wheelchair, he will be able to clean himself again. For Andrej, access to warm water – a minimum standard for most people – will be a relief. Workers have already installed a new boiler and sink in the bathroom. They will also ensure safe electrical wiring, remove moisture and mold from the premises, and refresh the walls with new plaster.

“We will do everything to prevent such situations from happening again. We acknowledge that the system does not optimally detect such cases, so we will organize a crisis meeting every month to prevent such tragic stories from happening,” Mayor Prebilič stated. He is determined to set an exemplary scheme for helping neglected individuals. Networking mayors in the field of social security and rights would further upgrade care for the most vulnerable. “In the 21st century, we cannot allow such things to happen,” Mayor Prebilič is determined.

Unfortunately, even after 24 hours since we informed them of the problem, Minister of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities Luka Mesec and Minister of Solidarity-Based Future Simon Maljevac have not been able to provide their responses, even though we extensively explained the situation to their PR services and sent them a link to our article.

From both responsible ministries (the Ministry for Solidarity-Based Future is even responsible for the care of the disabled and the elderly) we wanted to find out if they would systematically investigate the functioning of public institutions and services under their jurisdiction. As we have seen, public institutions, which should be the first to help a helpless person, hide behind many legal clichés and limitations, invoking help from the surroundings. What happens when the system fails, and the helpless person is left completely alone?

A person without any relatives is left to themselves. In Andrej’s case, things only started to change when we published his story. That is precisely why it is necessary to tackle the core of the problem. Public institutions that – at the expense of public funds – are supposed to provide care and assistance, but fail to do so, must be held accountable. Excuses like “it's impossible, we can't help, there's no solution, he's too young or too old for an institution” are not and should not become acceptable in a society where there are increasingly more elderly, lonely, and disabled people.

In the first place, the elected representatives of the authorities are primarily responsible for preventing and addressing such systemic anomalies. Because it is not an isolated case, as the most prominent representatives of local communities also note. We have been informed about many cases that are similar to Andrej’s. Since it is a systemic anomaly at the level of the entire country, it is necessary to address it before it is too late. From Minister Maljevac, whom we had confronted with the problem at the morning press conference, dedicated precisely to presenting the law on long-term care, we learned only that he will “examine the case.”

So, are we going to wait for people to die in their beds surrounded by their excrement? Is our country the legal and social state that has social rights and security declared in the highest legal act, i.e., the Constitution? Dear ministers, not everything is high politics; sometimes, you have to go among the people to listen to their problems and hardships.