Doctor Andon Cibisev warned that hospitals in smaller cities across Macedonia are left under staffed and poorly equipped and can’t cope with the coronavirus crisis. The warning comes after the head of the “8th of September” hospital in Skopje – which is the main Covid-19 treatment center in the country – also warned that they are running out of funds.

Instead of investing in equipment and staff in the interior of the country, the money were spent on potatoes and cooking oil (referrence to the widespread pre-election bribery of poor voters). Now these hospitals are forwarding their patients to Skopje, where the hospitals are already crowded and without money and the staff is exhausted. Don’t be surprised when clinics in Skopje refuse to accept patients, Cibisev said.

The comment comes as it was reported that general hospitals, like the one in Prilep, were told to stop forwarding elderly coronavirus patients to Skopje.