In 1981 Mekuli tended to the Albanian students injured by the police during the 1981 protests in Kosovo, when the Albanians were demanding more autonomy within Yugoslavia. She was accused of "showing too much zeal" in treating the wounded and siding with the students in their demands as well. Because of her actions, the University of Pristina refused to promote her to full professor, and she was forced into early retirement in October 1988. Following the dissolution of Kosovo in 1989, all health workers in the clinic were expelled. In 1996 Mekuli opened a gynecology and obstetrics clinic in conjunction with the Mother Teresa charity organization, which brought in gynecologists from around Kosovo to treat women.