Filipche: Hyperchlorination in Gostivar carries risk of malignant diseases  Mickoski responded with reports from 2019

At todays parliamentary questions session in Parliament the leader of SDSM and MP Venko Filipche sharply criticized the Government for its handling of water quality and accused that in Gostivar illiterate people, by hyperchlorinating without first removing the organic compounds, created a risk of malignant diseases. Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski responded with printed reports from 2019 and said that water problems existed in the past as well.

In his speech before the MPs Filipche said: "The water is polluted in half the country: in Gostivar, in Valandovo, in Skopje, in several municipalities, and you have no answer to many questions. The water in the hospital in Leshok was polluted, be careful! Whose responsibility is it, who carried out the controls, why were the results not reported and announced appropriately? Why don't you publish the water results in Gostivar? Why do you have contradictory statements, you say one thing, the Minister of Health says another, that allegedly it would be safe to drink, and then that the water would only be technically acceptable? People are confused, they don't know what to do and who to trust."

He emphasized that it is not the job of people without appropriate expertise to decide on the transformation of the water system: "You send out the Minister of Internal Affairs Panche Toshkovski to talk about cleaning the water, about chlorination and hyperchlorination, and the man has no capacity, he does not know about that, it is not his sphere of expertise. Be careful, hyperchlorination of the water! It carries an increased risk of malignant diseases. Don't play games. Give someone who knows and who understands the work and who has the expertise to deal with it. First it is necessary to remove organic compounds, and only after that to chlorinate the water."

Filipche also drew public attention to the incident on July 24 when white foam appeared in the Lepenec River by the Rashche spring in Skopje, and pointed out that the public still has not received satisfactory answers even though there are wells nearby that affect the capital's water supply.

Interruptions and accusations on broader issues

The session was disrupted several times: MP Dauti refused to leave the podium after the prime minister did not answer her, Gashi interrupted the session, and the debate was blocked again. Filipche, however, expanded his speech to cover the standard of living and the controversial one-billion-euro loan which, he said, the Hungarian government is investigating.

He stated: "The stories about citizens' standards of living are falling apart. Every day your mouth is full that we were fourth in Europe, third, now we are first, but people know how they live. They live on the edge of subsistence. Eurostat confirmed that: we are last in Europe by standard of living and by incomes, the lowest, at the bottom." On the influence over the judiciary and corruption he warned: "The latest report of the European Parliament, one of the worst so far in this regard, shows poor handling of corruption, direct influence of the authorities on the independent judiciary. And you have no reaction to that. On the contrary, you continue with the politicization of the courts."

Instead of answering who the "guilty" prime minister was, Mickoski went to the podium and showed photos and reports of unsafe water from the reports of the Public Health Center which, according to him, date from the period when Filipche was Minister of Health. The Prime Minister read allegations from documents concerning Prilep, Krushevo and Makedonski Brod for February and March 2019 and said: "There are people from your parliamentary group from Prilep. A report from the Public Health Center in Prilep from 1 February 2019 to 28 February 2019 and it concerns the towns Prilep, Krushevo and Makedonski Brod. The report itself says that there is non-compliance of the water due to bacteriological non-compliance and physico-chemical non-compliance of the samples. Measures taken: nothing. Next report 1 March 2019 to 31 March 2019, again for the same towns, and again nothing was done. I can list many such reports. Here is an entire bundle for Gostivar and the surrounding area. You were the minister in that period. Not only did your modular hospitals burn, but as a doctor you did not adhere to the oath. You allowed people to consume water that at best, to say the least, posed a health risk to those who consumed it."

The Prime Minister called on the Prosecutor's Office to check those old reports. Filipche failed to obtain the final word due to the repeated blocking of the session and the unclear state of debate on questions related to water quality.

Photo: SDK.MK