[Radio] Television of Prishtina gave us the news that the miners have entered the mine pit. Me and a lot of other physicians, with doctor Adem, with a lot of general physicians. Trepça had its own in-house physicians. I remember the first day when I went there, we took the elevator down Trepça’s levels. It’s not a good feeling to go into the elevator, and go down 700-800-900 meters in the mine pit. But, I was always thinking of going to help the miners down there. I was their in-house physician in the ‘80s, so all the miners knew me. They were really happy to see me. I took a bag of medicine, [as] I told you, at the time the medicine and the check ups were free of charge. We stocked enough medicine, antibiotics against fever, against coughing, against throwing up, against poisoning. And I went to check on them with my bag full of medicine. But there weren’t any health issues the first few days. […] It’s worth mentioning, it’s very interesting, many miners whose health worsened didn’t want to leave the mine after we told them they must leave it, they didn’t want to. They said, ‘Only dead. Four people can carry my body and separate me from my striker friends.’
Faik Bllata was born in 1951 in the village of Rashan, Municipality of Mitrovica. He graduated in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Prishtina in 1981, and specialized in 1987 at the University of Zagreb. From 1981 to 1992, he worked as a physician at the hospital of Mitrovica. Like most Albanians in public institutions, Mr. Bllata was expelled from his job in the ‘90s, after which he worked at a private practice. After the war in 1999, he returned to the hospital of Mitrovica, where he continued his medical practice until 2016. Currently, Mr. Bllata works and lives with his family in Vushtrri.