Shtip, 4 May 2023 (MIA) — Speaking to reporters in the Shtip Hospital on Thursday, Health Minister Fatmir Mexhiti said he did not have a magic wand to solve all problems in the health care system but he and his team were preparing strategies for reorganizing health institutions, systematizing jobs, and retaining young doctors in the country.

"We are working on a strategy so that every doctor, medic, student, pharmacist and dentist, when they reach their sixth year [as undergraduates] will know that they won't have to roam the streets in the next three or four years, get disappointed and run away from the country," Mexhiti said.

"That's what we call doctor migration," he continued. "We are making all efforts and looking for the best strategy, so we need some more time. Medical staff are not made in a day, you know."

The health minister asked the press to report on all problems in health care and he said he would be available to help overcome the problems. He also announced a new reorganization and job systematization in health centers nationwide.

"The EU ambassador tells me that Denmark, with its six million inhabitants, has 122 health institutions, and our little Macedonia, our dear country, has 1,200 health institutions," Mexhiti said.

"These should be merged. I've already started doing this at the Clinical Center where I am a doctor. From my first day as a health minister, I immediately tackled this problem. The Clinical Center [clinics] should be merged and the costs should be lower and there should be a better health service for patients," he added.

During his visit to the Shtip Hospital, he said patients and health workers deserved better conditions.

"I saw the premises today. I have been here before. As a doctor, I have visited the hospital. This is really unacceptable. It is the 21st century and we will make efforts to finish the new hospital as soon as possible," Mexhiti said, commenting on the delays in the construction of the new hospital which was set to officially open in June 2023.

Expressing his regret that the hospital construction had stalled, he pledged that he would see to it that the new hospital was built as soon as possible. mr/