Journalist Furkan Saliu continued to confront doctor Aspazija Sofijanova – head of the Children’s Clinic in Skopje – about collecting overtime pay while she was not at work.

Saliu caused a stir when he duped Sofijanova into an interview – ostensibly to discuss children cancer treatment – only to produce her salary slips which are significant by Macedonian standards, and are boosted by overtime pay. Saliu insisted that he has evidence that Sofijanova was not at the clinic at the times she collected pay, to which she responded angrily, threatened him with criminal charges and apparently called Saliu’s parents to have him back off the story.

Today, a more composed Sofijanova issued a statement informing that she was working from home, giving consultations and advice online and over the phone. Saliu responded by revealing that she spent a month in Slovenia earlier this year, while collecting salary and overtime.

The doctor, who is a household name, was strongly attacked by the now ruling SDSM party over the death of young Tamara Dimovska, who died aged 9 in 2015 after suffering from severe scoliosis all her life. SDSM used her death to score political points, alleging that the then VMRO-DPMNE led Government, deliberately protracted the provision of funds for a surgery abroad, and attacked Sofijanova as one of those culpable. After SDSM grabbed power in 2017, she was able to endear herself to the new regime and remain head of the clinic.