Around 70 volunteers at Bitola Clinical Hospital await employment
A new request for approval has been submitted to the Ministry of Finance, but hiring will depend on the hospital's finances.
About seventy people working as volunteers at the Clinical Hospital in Bitola are still waiting to learn whether they will be offered regular jobs. A fresh request for approval has been sent to the Ministry of Finance, but any hires will depend on the hospital's available funds.
The group includes roughly 70 medical and non-medical staff who for eight months have carried out work without pay. Until the end of last year they were engaged under contracts for specific tasks, but consent for their permanent employment was not granted.
Health Minister Sasho Klekovski confirmed that the procedure has been restarted and described the steps taken. "In talks with the Clinical Hospital I asked them to establish the inventory and submit a new request. I think it has been prepared and submitted to the Ministry and we will follow it further. It depends on the hospital's financial resources. But my position is very simple. There should be no contracts for work; they should be only for a specific task or temporary jobs, but not a replacement for employment," Klekovski said.
The issue was raised about twenty days earlier during a visit to the hospital by Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski and Minister Klekovski, when a member of the public approached and asked on camera about the volunteers who have been working for months without compensation. "I wanted to ask what will happen to the employees who work with volunteer agreements at the Clinical Hospital Bitola, without any remuneration," the citizen said. "Here they will answer you, both the minister and the director are here," Mickoski replied.
Klekovski promised then to look into the matter. Two dozen days later the hospital submitted a renewed request, but uncertainty remains over how many of the volunteers will receive a regular employment contract, at a time when the healthcare system in North Macedonia faces a shortage of medical staff and increasing numbers of health workers are leaving abroad.
By Emilija Misirlievski
Photo: press material from the event
