Skopje, 4 September 2023 (MIA) — In response to the public outrage about recent allegations that Oncology Clinic staff were withholding life-saving medical care to cancer patients and reselling cancer drugs, VMRO-DPMNE leader Hristijan Mickoski called for the government to step down and call a snap election.

Answering reporters' questions in Vinica on Monday, Mickoski said the government should bear the political responsibility for the scandal and the perpetrators should be held accountable for their crimes.

"I am personally appalled by what is happening. We are witnessing a criminal monstrous mafia association of several medical staff close to the ruling parties," he claimed.

"What is appalling is that to get rich, to make a personal profit, they resold the drugs instead of giving them to those who needed them the most and who were dying in pain," he said.

"They practically got together to commit a crime against humanity. This is nauseating to anyone, but we, the VMRO-DPMNE, already raised the alarm two years ago that this was happening at that clinic," Mickoski said.

He said Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski should say why the clinic's drug-monitoring system was not operational.

"Who is the person who ordered that this system be stored in the basement instead of being put into use?

"Why did only paying patients receive the right medical treatment, while those who were unfortunately unable to pay were shown no mercy and left to die in terrible pain and suffering?" Mickoski asked.

"Soon we will get those answers, as a future government lead by VMRO-DPMNE and our coalition," he said.

"I, personally, have never politicized these things because we are talking about human lives and trauma that families are going through. But I can't help but remind you of past SDSM campaigns that exploited people's destinies," the VMRO-DPMNE head said. mr/