Our Dr. Aleksandar Jakovljević, PhD, spoke for Nezavisne novine and we are sharing the interview in its entirety:
The name of Dr. Jakovljevic is known to all athletes in the region and beyond, which is not surprising considering that he is one of the most sought-after specialists in orthopedic surgery who, according to his patients, works wonders in healing injuries and treatment with blood plasma and stem cells.
Vrhunski sport iziskuje sve više napora i odricanja, a u takvim surovim uslovima veće su i šanse za povrede. Posebno je to izraženo u sportovima u kojima dolazi do kontakta učesnika. Neke traume mogu se preduprijediti kvalitetnim treningom i pripremom, a kada ipak do neželjenog ishoda dođe, veoma je važno imati kvalitetno liječenje kako bi oporavak bio što bolji i kraći.
This is when Dr. Jakovljević and his team step in. The example of how good they are is the world judo champion Nemanja Majdov.
"I have been cooperating with Nemanja for a long time, on June 28 it will be exactly nine years. He came that day with back pain that no one could solve. We helped him and solved that problem, and then Nemanja became the junior European champion. When I got home, I told everyone that I had met a boy who would take an Olympic medal. Such a devotion is rarely seen, both by him and his entire family. We worked with him a lot ", said dr. Jakovljević.
In the meantime, Nemanja Majdov also became the world champion, and his trust in dr. Jakovljević reflects in the fact that dr. Jakovljević was included in the Serbian Olympic Team for the upcoming Olympic Games in Tokyo.
"I signed a contract with the Judo Federation of Serbia, where I am listed in Nemanja Majdov's team for the Olympic Games in Tokyo. Considering that Nemanja is one of the greatest hopes of Serbia for a medal, I sincerely believe that his dream, as well as my dream of going to the Games, will come true. We made some good results, Nemanja in particular, and I feel the utmost satisfaction for receiving the invitation to go after new medals together. Naturally, everything depends on the outcome of the situation with the coronavirus pandemic, but we are optimistic ", he added.
Numerous athletes involved in many sports and all over the world came out of Jakovljević's clinic "Orthosport" with a smile on their faces.
"I am also working with the world and European karate champion, Jovana Preković, who is also a serious candidate of Serbia in Tokyo and I am also part of her team. There is also shot putter Asmir Kolašinac, karateka Valerija Kumizaki , as well as the best judoka and athlete in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Larisa Cerić. The best young judoka in Europe, Nadežda Petrović, was here two months ago with a sprained elbow. Everyone said it was over for her, but she recently competed in the World Cup. We treated many football and handball players; we have recuperated three or four top handball players from Borac with severe injuries and now they are ready for competitions. Recent coach of Borac and handball legend, Veselin Vujović, has not been able to play tennis for years because of his knees, and that is now a thing of the past ", explains Jakovljević and notes that, along with expertise and professionalism, a humane approach to everyone who comes to solve their problem is equally important.
"We simply have a different approach. Firstly, we want to help. People come to us from everywhere and we try to give them the best, so they can see that they can receive the best treatment which is currently used in the world. The material aspect is totally irrelevant and I think that is the right path. I have operated on many knees and hips, I talk to people and help them with advice, so their trust and results are a great satisfaction. I have a family and I am an accomplished man and this is a kind of life upgrade for me ", said Dr. Jakovljević and added that he has made many friends through this job, and he is especially attached to sports and loves it:
"I have been in sports since 1980, when I was at the European Women's Basketball Championship (Banja Luka hosted the 17th Eurobasket), where I maintained statistics and was the youngest, and then I was basketball referee, a delegate and a supervisor for more than 20 years. Now I work with athletes and, believe me, after a successful treatment, there is no better gift than their smile and sincere gratitude.”
MORE THAN 80,000 BLOOD PLASMA APPLICATIONS
Aleksandar Jakovljević and his team were pioneers in blood plasma treatment in B&H.
“In 2011, we started with blood plasma treatments and we have had more than 80,000 applications so far. During the past period, we have created our own system, which is much cheaper, and it has proven in practice to be much more efficient. We have been working successfully with stem cells since 2016, and it is currently the pinnacle of regenerative medicine ", concluded dr. Jakovljević