The shell company and the Chinese vaccines, the mother with removed organs, the fight for oxygen in the hospitals – some of the wrongdoings of Filipce

Venko Filipce’s term in the Ministry of Health was marred by a series of scandals. Suspicious contracts, high-level corruption, scandals with patients are just some of the situations that the public has witnessed in recent years.

The coronavirus pandemic has brought to light the poor handling with the situation. While Minister Filipce and the government assured that the situation is under control, the citizens shared their negative experiences daily through the media and social networks.

While Filipce assured that there were available beds for everyone needing hospitalization and that no one will be sent back, the citizens spoke publicly and testified about the personal troubles of their loved ones. From hospitalization in hospital corridors, to finding connections to get medical care in a hospital setting. For the most part, their doors were closed on the grounds that they had no available beds and they were sent through the hospital labyrinths.

Mistakes were also made in the seemingly good organization of cluster monitoring. The authorities did not find a solution how to get the data from those citizens who refused to tell their contacts or gave false information.

The citizens were outraged by the untimely adoption of restrictions, as well as to the adoption of inappropriate measures in a given period. One of the major shortcomings in relation to the coronavirus situation is the lack of vaccines. While all countries procured and found ways to get more vaccines for their citizens, the Government and the Ministry of Health failed in doing so. The public remembers well that the vaccination in Macedonia started thanks to the donated vaccines from neighboring Serbia.

The Italian newspaper La Verita published letters and documents on the procurement of vaccines from China in March this year. The daily wrote that the Chinese company canceled the deal for fear of fraud because, according to La Verita, Zaev went through an intermediary company that was a shell company with unstable foundations in Hong Kong.

In the official statements of Zaev and Filipce, who several times announced the arrival of the Chinese vaccines in Macedonia, they point out that the reason for returning the advance for the Chinese vaccines was due to the harmonization of documentation.

Zaev then confirmed that they tried to get vaccines in a different way, but denied bad intentions or illegal actions.

During that period, the leader of VMRO-DPMNE Hristijan Mickoski went public with information that the government paid an extremely high price for the purchase of 200 thousand Chinese vaccines Sinopharm. He also presented documents, according to which, as he says, the Sinopharm vaccines cost 7.8 million dollars. That, according to Mickoski, was twice the selling price of vaccines.

Moreover, the young Mihaela, who lost her mother, also testified about the poor management and dealing with the corona crisis. The 41-year-old woman was treated at the hospital in Stip from coronavirus, and Mihaela, publishing the messages from her mother after her death, pointed out that the woman was begging for oxygen and did not receive proper care.

Inspectors was sent to the hospital to investigate the case and they determined that the patient was treated according to the prescribed protocols.

Then, the entire Macedonian public was shocked by the scandal with the Struga hospital where a mother from Debar was left without three organs, and the case was covered up for six months. The 28-year-old nurse spent 4 whole days in real agony in the hospital in Struga before the doctors even decided to check why the new mother has such severe abdominal pain. Although she constantly complained that she was not feeling well, Dr. Asani brought her a discharge letter three days after giving birth and told her that she was ready to go home.

However, her situation got worse and after 10 in coma she woke up in a Skopje clinic and learned that she had her uterus, ovary and a kidney removed. The commission that investigated the case, composed as ordered by Minister Filipce, found that no wrongdoing was done. Veaposka and her family announced that they will seek justice in court.