Klekovski seeks foreign expert on commission reviewing treatment of new mother left in a wheelchair
Ministry says completed inspections will be followed by a multidisciplinary expert commission that will include a foreign specialist at the minister’s request.
A formal expert review will include a foreign specialist after the Ministry of Health requested their participation in the commission examining the treatment of 19-year-old Stanka Mihajlova, who was left unable to walk after giving birth in Shtip.
The Ministry said regular inspections at the hospitals have concluded, but that the seriousness of the patient’s complications requires a full expert review of the delivery and subsequent care to determine whether diagnostic and therapeutic procedures were appropriate.
Ministry: multidisciplinary team and a foreign expert
"The inspections were carried out at General Hospital Strumica, Clinical Hospital Shtip and the University Clinic of Neurology. However, given the serious health complications of the patient, a decision was made to conduct expert supervision over the entire course of her delivery and subsequent treatment. The commission for expert supervision is composed of specialist doctors in neurology, anaesthesiology, gynecology, radiology and neurosurgery," the Ministry of Health said.
To ensure an independent and objective assessment, the minister asked that a medical expert from a neighbouring country be included in the commission, the statement added.
Mihajlova, from the village of Banica near Strumica, gave birth on 26 June at Clinical Hospital Shtip. According to her family, she had no mobility problems before the delivery but was already struggling to walk upon discharge; her father‑in‑law carried her home. Her condition worsened and on 4 July she was transferred to the Clinic of Neurology in Skopje.
Medical records note that she was admitted after delivery under spinal anaesthesia with weakness in both legs and difficulty urinating. Magnetic resonance imaging showed changes affecting the ninth to the eleventh vertebrae. The expert commission is to establish whether treatment and procedures met standards and where the system may have failed.
Photo: press material from the event
