Skopje, 1 August 2024 (MIA) – The refrigerators that were turned off yesterday stored among other things whooping cough reagents, Public Health Institute Director Marija Andonovska told the media Thursday. 

“We suspect it was a possible sabotage at the Institute for Public Health. We leave it to the institutions in charge to investigate,” said Andonovska, who took office only five days ago.

She said that a refrigerator and a chamber were switched off being left without power.

“I was told that they stored quite important reagents that would have detected an array of diseases. Upon our arrival there, we noticed that they were switched off directly from the fuses. We leave it to the relevant bodies to investigate whether it was an accident or whether it was done intentionally,” stated Andonovska. 

Out of some hundred fuses, only the ones connected to the refrigerator were turned off. “We reported the case yesterday and I believe the institutions will be up to the task to investigate whether it was a sabotage or an accident,” she reiterated. 

The Institute for Public Health at the moment is checking whether the reagents are damaged. 

Answering questions from reporters, Andonovska said that some of the reagents were for detecting whooping cough.

A whooping cough epidemic has been declared in Skopje, Kumanovo and Tetovo.

“If we hadn’t reacted on time, we would have been left today without a single reagent for whooping cough amid an epidemic. I informed the public the other day that when I took office, I detected a lack of these reagents even though there is an epidemic in place. It means my predecessors didn’t leave enough reagents in the Institute,” Andonovska said. 

In a press release earlier in the day, the Public Prosecutor’s Office said it is collecting documents and interviewing people with possible knowledge about the power being turned off from the chambers that store reagents for contagious and non-contagious diseases in the Institute for Public Health. 

“Due to the gravity of the possible harmful consequences on public health, which might have been caused by this act, and due to the possibility of it being a diversion or sabotage, public prosecutors in Skopje have been sent to the scene to investigate,” said the press release. 

Photo and video: MIA