Zoran Zaev today announced that he is rejecting the offer of resignation from his Healthcare Minister Venko Filipce and his deputy Ilir Hasani. Zaev made the declaration just hours after a preliminary report was made, that blamed the fire that killed 14 patients and family members on a faulty electric cable that was overloaded from the use of a defibrilator.

The hospital container in Tetovo and 18 similar units were built under a crony contract that Zaev and Filipce awarded to Zaev’s former Deputy Prime Minister Koco Angjusev, who apparently, judging by the speed of the fire, used highly flammable materials during the construction.

There is no need to point to moral or political responsibility in the ministers. The institutions will say if there were some errors in the work. I will not allow that the tragedy in the Tetovo hospital is politicized, Zaev said during the press conference he held today.
Filipce and Hasani offered their resignations two days after the fire, under strong public pressure. But from the start it was seen as a move to buy time, until the public anger blows over, a view that is now being vindicated.

According to the report, the fire started in an extension cord that was used to power a defibrilator, as well as other devices, including a phone charger. The defibrilator was used on a young girl that died just before the fire, and was sometimes counted in the total death toll. The hospital was badly understaffed which meant that families of patients were forced to send people to help their loved ones in performing basic chores – which likely added to the drain on the electric systems. It is not clear whether the prosecutors will now press further against the powerful contractor for the way in which the electric wiring was performed, or for the crucial choice of insulation and building materials, who were obviously flammable.