Skopje, 15 August 2023 (MIA) - One cannot help but wonder whose true initiative was BRAKO's amnesty and the extension of payments, with no regard to the recommendations from the audit? Was this Kovachevski's request, a good opportunity for Fatmir Mexhiti or an order from Artan Grubi?, former Minister of Health Bekim Sali said during a Tuesday's press briefing regarding who was responsible for the fire in the modular hospital in Tetovo.

He previously confirmed the notion mentioned in the "Murder in Tetovo" documentary released by the Investigative Reporting Lab (IRL), which explains the payment suspension and termination of the contract with "Brako" after an audit by the ministry. However, despite the recommendations from the internal audit, his successor, through the Government, initiated a debt payment to his company.

"What responsibility does the government have towards Kocho Angjushev and why do they allow him to disrespect the victims of the fire that happened on September 8, 2021, just for a few more million euros? And what is supposed to happen for Kovachevski and Fatmir Mexhiti to resign and apologies for all the damages they inflict on the citizens," Sali noted.

He also raised a question about the responsibility of the Public Prosecutor Ljubomir Jovevski who instead of addressing the culprit and finding who among those who built the modular hospital is responsible, when Jovevski filed a lawsuit for secondary responsibility, while ignoring the primary responsibility of the contractor company, the clients and company supporters.

"How many more casualties must there be, how many people should burn for the prosecutor's office to start dealing with the culprits. In a country where patients burn inside a hospital, where politicians count their millions, where prosecutors laugh at victims and criminals get rewarded with millions, the time has come, this county has gone bankrupt and needs a restart," the former Minister stressed.

In response to a reporter's question if the rest of the hospitals were built with the same materials according to the audit, Sali confirmed that the same materials were used, and that they had an agreement with those who financed the project to enforce a fire protection system for all hospitals, however they were not intended to be used as modular hospital or have patients stay there for a longer time, they were supposed to be used as vaccination points or as laboratories where patient would get to stay for no longer than a day.

The Investigative Reporting Lab in its latest documentary titled "Murder in Tetovo" reveals that their research showed that COVID-19 modular hospitals, including the one that burned down in Tetovo, were built improperly bypassing multiple legal procedures. They were built without an electrical installation report, without a fire protection report, without supervision of the construction and a series of other legal omissions, the journalists noted in the documentary. ssh/sk/

Photo: MIA