Serbian politician Darko Glišić suffered a stroke during a live television interview.
The former minister for public investment appeared on a morning show for the Serbian television channel Pink on Tuesday (August 5). But things took a chilling turn when the dad-of-two’s demeanor changed halfway through the televised interview.
The politician’s speech began to slow down and his eyes slowly started to close as he attempted to still speak to the hosts of the show. The clip went viral on social media after being reposted by European outlet Nexta.
Thousands of viewers watched it in disbelief as his speech slurred and one side of his began to droop, both of which are common signs of a stroke, according to the NHS.
The minister was then rushed to hospital at the Clinical Centre of Serbia and believed to be in a “very serious condition”, according to Serbian newspaper, Informer.
The outlet went on to claim that he was hospitalised in “an unconscious state” adding that “doctors are now fighting for his life”. Zlatibor Lončar, another Serbian politician, has revealed that the minister had an “extremely complex operation” which “took longer than expected”.
The president of the country, Aleksandar Vučić, visited him and shared an update on his Instagram page for his followers to see. He revealed: “I came to the Clinical Centre of Serbia and visited Darko Glišić and for all our people, I want to tell one wonderful news. Darko is better, I talked to him.”
““He’s still struggling a bit, but I can’t describe my joy and his. They cannot beat Serbia. There is no surrender, long live Serbia,” he explained in the video clip as he captioned the post: “Darko is better, thank you all for your concern.”
The next day, on August 7, the president shared yet another update and this time he posted a picture of himself standing hand in hand with Glišić, as the minister was seen looking notably better. He held his hand up in a fist and smiled for the camera, with plenty of wires connecting him to various machines.
According to the NHS website, a stroke occurs when blood stops flowing to a part of your brain. It can affect things like speech and movement and can be dire if not treated with urgent medical attention as soon as possible.
The symptoms include face and arm weakness, slurring of words as well as blurred vision or loss of sight, dizziness, nausea and a severe headache.
Darko has been serving as the minister for public investments since 2024 and after formerly being a part of the Serbian Radical Party (SRP), he is now the president of the executive board of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS).
Aside from his career, the politician is married and has two children and interestingly, is the president of ŽOK Ub, a women’s volleyball club.
