Prof. Dr. Syheda Latifi – Hoxha: The ability of a pedagogue is shown by creating better cadres than herself
For Prof. Dr. Syheda Latifi – Hoxha, the ability of an experienced professor and doctor is to motivate and pave the way for the new generations, setting an example. In an interview for the Bulletin of the Kosova College of Surgeons, she explains her life, both professionally and academically.
“I suggest that the doctors do not leave Kosova, for whom they gave their lives, blood and intellectual capacity, for the survival of our educational and health institutions from Serbian violence. I suggest that students learn, professors continuously engage in teaching students, leaders create conditions for work, not select party cadres”, said, among other things, in the interview, Dr. Latifi Hoxha!
As for the work of the Kosova College of Surgeons, she says that KCS has made a revolution in the advancement of Kosovar surgery.
“Special respect for this initiative deserves Prof. Dr. Rifat Latifi, who founded and leads the Kosova College of Surgeons. I strongly believe that Prof. Rifat and colleagues, together with commitment of all doctors of all surgical fields, will advance and index the journal of the Kosova College of Surgeons”, added Dr. Latifi-Hoxha.
Speaking about the founders of the Clinic of Gynecology, at the University Clinical Center of Kosova, and who were the first gynecologists of this clinic, she spoke especially with great love for the work and dedication of Prof. Dr. Sehadete Doko-Mekuli, who was the first Albanian gynecologist in all our lands.
Prof. Dr. Mekuli, according to her, apart from being noted for her professional skills, was also noted for her organizational and educational skills of the younger generations, because she, being maximally engaged with all the relevant instances of that time, laid the foundations and built the Clinic of Gynecology and Obstetrics, this clinic, in which tens of thousands of patients, mothers and newborns were treated and are being treated. In this clinic, she says, more than 10,000 births have been performed per year, and more than 10,000 children have been treated in the neonatal intensive care unit, and more than 1,200 were babies who needed intensive neonatal care. So, in addition to the development of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Prof. Dr. Mekuli educated many generations of young doctors.
But, she also explains the difficult and painful moments of Dr. Mekuli, when the barbaric Serbian forces and Albanian vassals fired her from her job because she organized health services during the 1981 demonstrations, as well as sheltered injured demonstrators and those who were being chased by the Serbian police.
“For this reason, the honorable Professor Dr. Sehadete did not experience the inauguration of the current Clinic of Gynecology and Obstetrics, which she built with great effort, because according to them she was “nationalist and irredentist”, and after a while she was expelled from the faculty and the clinic. I think that for the contribution she gave, the Clinic of Gynecology and Obstetrics in Pristina should bear the name of Prof. Dr. Sehadet Doko – Mekuli, for the commitment she gave in every sphere and in every difficult political circumstance, until self-denial. I hope that this will catch the eye of the politicians in Kosova”, said Dr. Latifi Hoxha in the interview.
In this interview Dr. Syheda Latifi Hoxha also mentions the professionals whom she remembers and singles out for their professionalism and the support they have given her. Besides the fact that she completed the Faculty of Medicine at the request of her parents, her father Muharrem Latifi, and mother Nazlija Sedullahu-Latifi, she fell in love with the profession of gynecology from her professor dr. Sehadete, during the time of her studies in the 5th year, because dr. Mekuli did professional miracles and that’s why she said: “I’ll either become a gynecologist or quit being a doctor”.
“She supported me and taught me not only the profession, but also human behavior towards women and people in need. She was someone who never got tired. She formed the association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Kosova, was active and contributed to teaching at the University, explaining and seeking knowledge from students. I tried to continue the path that she paved for me. The professor is a person I loved and respected as much as my parents, she is a special and unforgettable person for me. I will remember and thank her as long as I live! But her work and contribution should be appreciated by the whole population. Otherwise, other professors who participated in my education also worked in this clinic, such as Prof. Emine Gashi, Prof. Selim Krasniqi, Prof. Binak Kastrati, Prof. Zylfi Azizi, Ass. Sami Mejzinolli, whom I also thank a lot”, said, among other things, Prof. Dr. Syheda Latifi-Hoxha.
Regarding the operation of the Gynecology Clinic, Dr. Latifi – Hoxha remembers that in the 70s, she was the first woman from the University of Pristina to be employed at this clinic.
This is because the circumstances and working conditions were difficult, because the space of the building was small, narrow, the number of doctors was small, against the needs of the population, but, she notes that the passion and dedication to work were to the maximum, both in terms of professional, as well as in the pedagogical one, while the political circumstances, which were terrible, should not be mentioned. Regarding the state of the Gynecology today in Kosova, Dr. Latifi-Hoxha, says that the medical and nursing staff, in this clinic, has continuously increased with time in terms of number, as well as professional and scientific advancements. This, according to her, has been done depending on the conditions and circumstances, meanwhile, the new generations continuously advance and perfect themselves in the professional and pedagogical aspect. She suggests that in every sphere, as well as in this field, every person should be evaluated for knowledge and not for papers without sufficient knowledge. Regarding the support of the institutions for improving the situation in the health system in Kosova, Prof. Dr. Latifi-Hoxha thinks that health professionals have perfect knowledge of the conditions, speaking for a majority, but are led by party minorities, and therefore the situation is what it is. But where is Kosova’s surgery today, Prof. Dr. Syheda Latifi-Hoxha, declares that all that she said above, also applies to the field of surgery, and to the Faculty of Medicine. “If we had evaluated and used the real professional and academic potentials, both in the professional and in the pedagogical sphere, I am convinced that the situation would change for the better, but in the current circumstances this remains only to be desired. “Deserving professionals would advance every aspect of health,” she said.
Dr. Latifi-Hoxha, besides having served as a gynecologist for 44 years, now retired, currently she continues to work at UNITED HOSPITAL, specialist in Gynecology and Obstetrics, where she realizes from the simplest visit to the culminating operations performed for patients in need. Many generations should follow her example for her work and professionalism.
The Profile of Prof. Dr. Syheda Latifi – Hoxha:
Syheda Latifi – Hoxha, was born in Gjilan on July 24, 1953. She completed her primary education and classical high school in Gjilan. He graduated from the Faculty of Medicine in Pristina in 1979, where he immediately started working at the Obstetrics-Gynecology Clinic of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Pristina. In the period from November 1, 1979, until 1983, she worked as a doctor in the clinic, where she also started specializing in the field of gynecology and obstetrics. In the period 1984-1986, she completed her post-university studies in the field of clinical physiology at the University of Pristina. She completed the last stage of specialization at the University of Zagreb, where on February 2, 1987, she was promoted to Gynecology and Obstetric Specialist at the University Clinic for Women’s Diseases and Birth – Petrova 13, University of Zagreb. In the academic year 1987-88, he was chosen as an assistant in the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics at the University of Pristina. Until 1990, she worked in the clinic as a specialist doctor and taught in the relevant department until the violent measures of the Serbian regime expelled her from her job. In 1997, she defended her master’s thesis: “Fetus Condition in Correlation with Morphological and Histological Changes in the Placenta”. During the time interval 1987-2013 at the University of Pristina she achieved all the academic titles such as: assistant, assistant professor, associate professor and full professor. On June 20, 1999, the first, together with colleagues, entered the gynecological-obstetrical clinic in Pristina, to work with the greatest passion in the delivery rooms, continuing direct work in the most serious cases of women on the brink of death which gravitated to the clinic, since the health sector was still not properly organized. In addition to working with patients, she worked with many international associations such as the WHO, UNFPA, UNICEF, the Canadian Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center and University, where she conducted many international trainings, both domestically and internationally, regarding the increase in the quality of work specifically for the woman and the newborn, offering better health treatment to pregnant women, fetuses and newborns. From Hasan Prishtina University, Prishtina, as a full professor, she retired on 24.07.2018, but continued to work until the end of the academic year, 30.09.2018. For two academic years, 2018-2020, she worked as a full professor of the subject of Gynecology and Obstetrics, at the Faculty of Nursing, at the UBT College, Prishtina, where she developed the subject curricula. During the years 2019-2022, she worked at ALOKA Hospital, Pristina. She currently works as a specialist, gynecologist-obstetrician, at UNITED HOSPITAL, Pristina. She is a delegate of the Kosova Chamber of Doctors, for three consecutive terms, from the first legislature onwards. Since 2006, she is the vice president of the Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Kosovo, as well as a member of FIGOS. She has a large number of scientific presentations and publications in local and international congresses and journals.