Despite the latest of three promises made by Health Minister Venko Filipce 30 days ago that the patronage nurses’ project would continue, it will be suspended next Monday, leaving more than a hundred nurses on the streets without explanation.
“Six months assures that the project will last longer than planned, and all those 100 nurses throughout Macedonia did not look for work during the coronavirus pandemic. How can we believe that our employment contracts have been extended when they ended in April this year? “And from May 1, we will continue to work without any documents,” said a nurse, who asked to stay anonymous.
She also says that these nurses are literally left on the street, although in this isolation and sacrifice they were dedicated to their jobs till the end and at the height of their task during the pandemic.
In June 2019, the Ministry of Health released an announcement for a public call for all nurses who are interested in working in the services of the patronage activity to apply for the competition. The required conditions were to have completed secondary or higher medical education with a professional exam, and the Minister of Health due to the complexity of these agreements and the public interest even three times at press conferences promised that the same people will not stay on the street and contracts they will be extended.
Through this project, 48 nurses and 10 doctors and 50 other nurses throughout the country were employed in Skopje, bringing the total number to 100. Whether Macedonia will be left without medical staff during the biggest pandemic and in anticipation of the second wave of coronavirus in the world remains to be seen.
