Hristijan Kostov, manager of the 8th of September hospital in Skopje, which treats the most severe coronavirus cases, publicly warned that they are facing a financial collapse. Kostov said that the old “military hospital” treated 12,000 patients during the unprecedented crisis without receiving additional funding from the FZOM healthcare fund.

We were purchasing expensive antibiotic therapies, we did thousands of scans, all with our own funds. We can’t provide for basic essentials now, Kostov said.

Kostov said that the recent move to reopen the hospital for other patients was forced, because absent major support from FZOM, this is the only revenue stream they can use to support the coronavirus relief. Initially coronavirus patiens were treated in the Infectious Diseases Clinic, but after a month into the epidemic the 8th of September hospital became the key corona center, and is the only one that provides mechanical ventilation to the most severe cases.

The public healthcare fund responded that Kostov has the usual budget for the management of the hospital, and that an increase is planned in the near future.