While the number of measles cases is multiplying across the country among patients and hospital workers alike, Healthcare Minister Venko Filipce is busy attending election rallies in favor of his SDSM party candidate Stevo Pendarovski.

During the rallies, Filipce is politicizing the investments in the public healthcare and presenting them as accomplishments of the SDSM party.

In the past period, the Government of the Republic of North Macedonia, led by SDSM, invested a lot in the public healthcare system. We increased the salaries of healthcare workers, and we increased the overtime payments. We need to keep moving forward, and on April 21st, vote for the true President, the man who will be the President of us all, vote for Stevo Pendarovski, Minister Filipce said during a rally in the south-western Debarca region.

Debarca is close to Struga, where the public hospital was hit by a measles epidemic. Filipce greatly contributed to eroding public trust in the healthcare system, especially in the safety of vaccinations, with a number of his gaffes.