Zoran Zaev keeps Venko Filipce on as his Healthcare Minister because of the large procurement contracts that go through that Ministry, said VMRO-DPMNE official Antonio Milososki. He noted that the Zaev Government moved quickly to remove other officials who offered their resignations, but is now procrastinating on the resignation offered by Filipce after the catastrophic hospital fire in Tetovo.

We believe that this is because the Healthcare Ministry is an institution that has very large funds on its disposal, many procurement contracts, and that is why Zaev is making efforts to keep Filipce in this position even after he himself resigned, Milososki said.

Filipce faced a number of corruption scandals involving procurement in the Ministry but faces no active investigations, except when it became completely unavoidable, after the Tetovo fire. Zaev also placed his childhood friend Den Doncev as director of the FZO public healthcare fund. Doncev was allowed to flee to Australia after numerous corruption allegations were raised against him.