Doctors are employed either party or ethnically, but of course with connections
Around 350 doctors and 1.400 nurses wait for employment while the promised 1.117 are stopped. VMRO-DPMNE and SDSM accuse each other of who is holding them back and whether Finance Minister Besimi from DUI has given their approval. The employment of medical staff was only in the hospital in Gostivar.
The young doctor Aleksandar Veselinov set out on the path to his first job. He is one of the best students at the Faculty of Medicine in Shtip, where he graduated with an average 9,82, in the last 2023 year.
After receiving license from the Medical Chamber, he waited for two months to be called to the so-called "paid internship" of six months in the state healthcare – an obligation that every young doctor has in order to enroll in a specialization.
previous, through various programs he was trained in Istanbul and in Croatia.
A call to come for a paid internship these days they have received or should receive approx 250 young people, all licensed doctors of medicine.
"Colleagues were waiting even after 4-5 months, the institutions passed the ball to each other, and we are losing precious time even though it is about the rules of the game imposed on us by the state. I think that now that they called us is because of the pressure from the public", says Alexander for Radio Free Europe(RSE).
After the mandatory internship, Alexander will join the doctors who will be waiting for employment. And they are not few.
There is no Ka line that does not lack medical staff, while doctors and nurses sit idle.
Data obtained from the Employment Agency by Radio Free Europe show – in conclusion with 31 January 2024, in North Macedonia there was 354 unemployed doctors of medicine and approx 1.420 unemployed nurses.
Most of the unemployed medical personnel are waiting for their first employment until 11 months. But there are those for whom the waiting time is five years or more (are in this group 39 general nurses, 115 medical technicians, 23 midwives…).
The party is stronger than the average at the Faculty of Medicine
The Labor Inspectorate last week he made an extraordinary inspection at the hospital in Gostivar, after the portal "Portalix" published a recording on which it is claimed that the voice of Ilber Ademi can be heard, director of the hospital, how to tell a candidate for employment that there were a bunch of candidates on the advertisement, that it was hell, but that in the end he does not decide, but the party.
Director Ademi does not deny that he is the one in the video, and for Kanal television 5 he stated: "You know party interventions up and down, however, my decision is not based directly on any party decision. But on my personal decision. A professional decision," said Ademi.
Young doctors also complain about that – that they cannot get a job in public health even with a high average from their studies, because most of the time people are hired here through a party or according to "other criteria".
"The same patterns are repeated with employment in healthcare, only that now in the case of Gostivar we have 100 percent ethnic component. We had similar cases at the Gynecology Clinic, at the Infectious Diseases Clinic. We again call on colleagues to come out publicly and tell the problems. but, those who are brave, they left here", says Dr. Nenad Lazarov from the Association of trainees and young doctors.
The inspectorate has ten days to rule on whether there were any irregularities in this advertisement.
"Is fair representation valid?", to which individuals refer (but only when it suits them), for employment in the Gostivar general hospital? Take a good look and make sure if and how the balancer and the Badinter are implemented in Gostivar, reacted the MP from VMRO-DPMNE, Dafina Stojanoska.
The municipal organization of SDSM-Gostivar assessed in a statement that "there has been a gross violation of the principle of adequate and fair representation of citizens belonging to all communities during employment in state government bodies and other public institutions.".
In the meantime, clinics cannot realize minimum employments. Such an example is the University Clinic for Children's Diseases, where the employment of two pediatricians is not approved for the third month, even though the candidates passed the interviews.
A month and a half ago, two government ministers and former prime minister Dimitar Kovacevski announced that 1.117 persons engaged by contract of work they will be employed in healthcare before the elections are announced in the spring.
This project is now stopped. Deputy Minister of Health, Maya Manoleva from SDSM, he said at a press conference that by decision of the government, the employments of 1.117 persons in healthcare are provided, but, according to her, are blocked by the Additional Deputy Minister of Finance, Elena Petrova from SDSM.
Manoleva stated that this was done a few days before the announcement of the elections, "just a few days before the elections, for no particular reason, without an iota of responsibility towards the employees of health institutions and without an iota of care towards the patients".
Petrova explains that without the consent of Minister Besimi, the employment cannot be implemented.
In the meantime, everyone 1.117 persons have again been given new contracts and will continue to work for 12.000 denars and without health insurance.
"After the election, funds are provided by the Ministry of Finance, the opening of competitions will be approached in order not to violate the legal regulations and they will be employed", said the new Minister of Health, Ilir Demiri, on 15 February.
The young doctor Alexander from the beginning of the text, he will train for half a year in the Emergency Medical Service in Shtip. He will take it 30.000 denars per month, as much as the compensation for all young doctors for the paid experience. Where then? – You never know.
"I see this as a six-month visa, so after who caught where. I would like to stay in my country, but if I am forced, I will take a specialization abroad. There is no need to be afraid and hide, the salary and manner of employment are overwhelming and demotivating for any young doctor. I hope it won't be like this anymore, for some to have "smuggler" jobs, and for others, the announcements will fall into place", he says.
According to data from the Clinical Center Syndicate, again, from 450 doctors who annually receive licenses to work from the chamber, 430 they take diplomas in foreign language, which is an indication that they leave to work in other countries.