Loncar: Mrdic's health condition has deteriorated drastically

BELGRADE - Serbian Health Minister Zlatibor Loncar said on Monday Serbian Progressive Party MP Ugljesa Mrdic had been hospitalised at the Belgrade Emergency Centre 11 days after going on a hunger strike, following a drastic deterioration of his health condition.

Speaking to reporters, Loncar said Mrdic had been taken to the Emergency Centre "at the last moment."

"The first parameters are not great - the (blood) pressure and the blood sugar level are not good, we will wait until the other results arrive," Loncar said, adding that Mrdic would start receiving infusion therapy.

Alongside five war veterans who support him, Mrdic has gone on a hunger strike, demanding an arrest of former Railway Infrastructure of Serbia Shareholders Assembly president Nebojsa Bojovic and the company's former executive director Milutin Milosevic for their responsibility in the November 1, 2024, deadly roof collapse at the Novi Sad railway station.

Earlier in the day, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic called on both Mrdic and Dijana Hrka, whose son was killed in the tragedy, to end their hunger strikes.

Hrka went on a hunger strike on November 2, demanding that those responsible for the death of her son and the other victims be identified.

In a video posted on Instagram, Vucic said he had invited Hrka to a meeting at the Presidency of Serbia.

"I spoke with Dijana Hrka and Ugljesa Mrdic by phone this morning. I asked them to end their hunger strikes and invited Ms Hrka to a meeting at the Presidency. All good people in Serbia are concerned over their health condition and I pray, and hope, they will decide to end the (hunger) strikes," Vucic said.