# “Dr Milan Jovanović Batut” Institute of Public Health of Serbia

The state public health institute that ran the COVID data system. Responding to BIRN's request, it used the full 40-day deadline and supplied an official figure of 244 deaths up to 1 June 2020, while its director, Verica Jovanović, refused to answer questions about the discrepancy in the numbers. Deputy director Darija Kisić Tepavčević publicly claimed that a journalist who had written about the Clinical Centre of Vojvodina had published "absolutely untrue" information.

## Affairs

- [Arrest of Ana Lalić over an article on the Clinical Centre of Vojvodina](https://odgovornost.rs/en/afere/ana-lalic-hapsenje-2020)
- [COVID death data hidden ahead of the elections](https://odgovornost.rs/en/afere/kovid-skriveni-podaci): In response to a freedom of information request, he said that 244 patients had died by 1 June, although the Covid19 system he runs had recorded 632
- [NITES: contracts of the firm of Kuburović's husband and Kisić Tepavčević's brother](https://odgovornost.rs/en/afere/nites-ugovori-kuburovic-kisic)

## People

- [Darija Kisić Tepavčević](https://odgovornost.rs/en/osobe/darija-kisic-tepavcevic): deputy director of the “Dr Milan Jovanović Batut” Institute of Public Health
- [Verica Jovanović](https://odgovornost.rs/en/osobe/verica-jovanovic): acting director of the Dr Milan Jovanović Batut Institute of Public Health

---

Source: Odgovornost, https://odgovornost.rs/en/organizacije/institut-batut  
As of: 5 Nov 2026  
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en)