Skopje, 30 January 2025 (MIA) - We are trying to extinguish all the flames we inherited and to improve the situation through a strategy, while on Monday we will have all the drugs we were missing for the treatment of the oncologic patients, Minister of Health Arben Taravari said at a Q&A session Thursday in Parliament, in answer to a question about the poor state of the public health system and the issues at the Oncology Clinic.

“I don’t know how [former] minister [Venko] Filipche has the face and the credibility to come out and criticize something that was the biggest scandal at the Ministry of Health in the past 3-4 years during his term. The things that happened at the Oncology Clinic are a scandal ‘par excellence’ and I regret that we still don’t have a court ruling. In the meantime, we are trying to resolve the issues there,” Taravari said. 

The Health Minister said in the past the “very expensive” drugs at the Oncology Clinic weren’t procured in accordance with the procedures, noting that this practice will end.

“Biologics are very expensive. A doctor can’t just prescribe them whenever he feels like it, there should be a council of doctors who will decide when these medications should be taken. Why? These are expensive drugs that we are paying for from the state budget, and it should be taken only by those patients who need it,” Taravari said, adding that the Ministry is intervening, and the Oncology Clinic will receive all biologics it is missing on Monday.