In the Municipality of Šuto Orizari, 1,200 children and 4,000 adults have been left without basic health care. After the retirement of the two family doctors from the polyclinic, the citizens of Šuto Orizari have been left without health care for more than two months. In addition, the existing family doctors in this municipality have reached the limit of patients and can accept only a limited number of new patients. After the retirement of the only doctor who provided health care for children, currently, only 250 children are registered, while the rest remain without the right to basic health care. At the same time, the duty service in the polyclinic Šuto Orizari has a shortage of doctors due to which the functioning is changeable, i.e. sometimes there is a duty service, but very often the ambulance on duty does not work. And all this in the midst of a pandemic.
The institutions ignore the problems of the citizens of Šuto Orizari. The associations that work in the field every day with the residents of the municipality have been appealing for the alarming situation for a long time, and today, March 24, in order to attract the public’s attention, they organized a creative action through which the Šuto Orizari Polyclinic was awarded the first world prize for the worst polyclinic.
The award was placed in a large format in front of the entrance of the Šuto Orizari Polyclinic, with which the associations wanted to emphasize the fact that the polyclinic is a health institution that offers services of extremely low quality and where citizens simply cannot exercise their right to health care.
As part of the action, driven by the poor state of health in Šuto Orizari, the associations organized a stand with a goldfish that fulfills wishes, hoping that if not the institutions, then at least the goldfish will fulfill their desires for basic health care and access to quality health services.
The action is organized by the Association IRIZ – Initiative for Development and Inclusion of Communities from Skopje, the Association for Development and Promotion of the Roma Community – Romano Chachipe, National Roma Centrum (NRC) and the Association for Legal Education and Transparency STATION P.E.T. The action is supported by the Foundation Open Society – Macedonia.
—————————————————
24 March 2021