Doctors from the Ohrid general hospital are defending their call not to admit a patient with the coronavirus, who later died at home. In a press release, they informed the public that the hospital is not equipped to handle such cases, and that instructions from Healthcare Minister Venko Filipce were such that they could not admit her.

Nemljune Ibraimi (66) from the village of Tatesh died last week after contracting the coronavirus during a visit to Debar. Her doctor Ruska Demisi described how the Ohrid hospital refused to admit two of her patients, including Ibraimi, who later died, citing the fact that Tatesh is an emigrant heavy area with many villagers there likely exposed to people returning from Italy.

Struga doctor describes the ordeal of her patient who was denied treatment in Ohrid and died of the coronavirus

 

Slavica Maleska, head of the Ohrid hospital, was dismissed after the incident. But now, the infectious diseases department in the hospital issued a press release defending their actions. They say that they have clear instructions from the Healthcare Ministry not to admit such patients. They point to an algoritam prepared by Minister Venko Filipce, that only hospitals prepared to handle likely Covid-19 cases should do so, and if they are not prepared, the patients should be sent for treatment to Skopje. This is done to avoid contaminating the entire hospital, and placing it off-line during a crisis, the Ohrid doctors say.