State institutions signed 144 temporary-employment contracts — none for medical staff
From January to today 144 temporary contracts were signed by state and public bodies; 70 unpaid volunteers at Bitola hospital await possible formal hiring.
State and public bodies in North Macedonia have signed 144 temporary employment contracts from January until today, but none of those agreements involve medical staff, according to the compilation of contracts released this week.
Unpaid volunteers in Bitola and new vacancies elsewhere
The issue of unpaid hospital volunteers in Bitola resurfaced after a television exchange about 20 days ago during a visit by Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski and Minister Sasho Klekovski to the Bitola Clinical Hospital, when a citizen asked the prime minister on camera, "He did not answer."
A new request for approval has been sent to the Ministry of Finance for hiring 70 people — medical and non-medical personnel — who have been working for eight months without compensation. Until the end of last year they were engaged under service contracts, but no consent for their formal employment was granted.
Meanwhile, temporary hires have been made across a wide range of state bodies and public enterprises: ministries, municipal utilities, libraries and kindergartens. The list of institutions that concluded temporary employment contracts this year includes the State Statistical Office, public housing and transport companies, municipal enterprises in dozens of towns and the General Secretariat of the Government.
Recent postings include a Ministry of Agriculture vacancy for 23 clerical positions. The last of the 144 contracts reported was signed by Lipkovo Municipality, which took on 10 persons with secondary education. A state-owned, loss-making joint-stock company, Power Plants of North Macedonia (Skopje), employed 10 executors this year as well.
At the same time, the government has expanded the number of so-called national coordinators — positions that carry monthly pay of 2,000 euros — often filled by party affiliates or by officials who lost other posts or ran for office. The most recently appointed coordinators include the accused Shaban Saliu and the dismissed minister Zoran Ljutkov.
Photo: press material from the event
