1 Despite all the sadness, anger and despair that overwhelmed me after the terrible fire in the Covid centre in Tetovo, in which 14 people died, I have nothing to say. I was struck dumb by the realization that there’s no end to this.

How can one say something smart, when we haven’t learned anything even after so many lessons with tragedies caused by sloppiness? How could we learn, when politicians’ reflex is to make excuses, not to solve the problem?

Minister of Health Venko Filipche stated that “visiting patients is a common sight in our hospitals and I know from experience it’s difficult to manage that or ban it.” Eventually it will turn out that the patients themselves are to blame for dying along with their relatives, who were by their side when the fire broke out. In the same way people are to blame for going to the doctor too late, for not controlling their health, for not getting vaccinated, for dancing at weddings, for attending baptism and circumcision parties, iftar dinners and liturgies, for squeezing themselves onto overcrowded buses, forging tests and vaccination certificates… It’s a matter of tradition. And it’s difficult to manage that.

So who’s responsible for keeping order in hospitals? The patients, the visitors, or the directors appointed by the minister?

2 The resignation of minister Filipche isn’t a problem at all. At this moment, it would be a symbolic gesture, which would bring catharsis to all those who seek it and disappointment to all those who support him. He’ll resign, and what then?

Personally, I think that he could offer it based on moral reasons. Because even without waiting for the results of the investigation, it’s obvious that there were serious systemic flaws. Plus, he’ll feel relieved. It’s not like he’s someone who can’t make a good living off his profession so he has to work in politics. He can always return to politics.

On the other hand, I understand why Prime Minister Zoran Zaev wouldn’t accept his resignation. It’s unproductive to render the whole health department dysfunctional amid the pandemic. That’s just what they need – new calculations in the party, new blackmails by DUI, new divides in the party, the Skopje wing, the Strumica wing… On top of that, they’ve run out of doctors. Some are running for mayor, others are heading the list of councillors, all of them eager to enter politics.

Filipche’s resignation is no guarantee that such tragic failures won’t be repeated. How can one ask for guarantee, when the minister himself says: “I cannot dismiss the director until responsibility is determined.” Thousands of people were fined for not wearing a mask on the street and violating the Covid protocols, but the minister can’t dismiss the director who didn’t know how to manage and couldn’t manage his Covid hospital. Why? Because he was appointed by a political party.

At the end of the day, it doesn’t even matter if the director had been appointed by this or that party and which leader they are close to. What matters is if they’ve proved capable or incapable. The worst thing is that all those who have proved incapable are protected by the party. That’s the systemic failure. And Venko, the most prominent person of that system, accepted that practice. That’s why, he can thank politics for falling so low, from people saying “Listen to Venko” at the beginning of the pandemic to a level where they’re saying “Down with Venko.”

3 On the afternoon of 8 September, there was a military parade in front of the Assembly. Firefighters and doctors too were part of the parade. As soon as the celebration in Skopje ended, unfortunately, the state had a demonstrative exercise in Tetovo. The firefighters arrived on time. The doctors quickly dealt with the rescued patients. The mayor of Tetovo Teuta Arifi was at the scene of the tragedy. The entire Government along with the Prime Minister went to Tetovo. The next day, President Stevo Pendarovski was there. They set up a crisis headquarters. Even Hristijan Mickoski called from Bitola, where VMRO-DPMNE was celebrating the Independence Day of their country on their own, to offer help from his party. As if they’re living in another country.

Just over a month ago, on Ilinden, when the forest near Kochani caught on fire, I wrote that we hadn’t learned the lessons from Stajkovci, Shipkovica or Laskarci… Ok, you might say Stajkovci was a natural disaster. But didn’t they raise the topic of the ring road junction and that it hadn’t been built properly? Ok, as for Laskarci, you might say bus accidents happen. But, didn’t they raise the topic of irregular and falsified technical inspections?

Who would have thought that a hospital would catch on fire and patients would die because they wouldn’t be able to escape, even on the ground floor? Imagine if it had been on another floor. Although, two weeks earlier someone cut the oxygen supply pipes in the same hospital, which could have been a tragedy for 120 patients. The investigation into that incident is still ongoing.

Accidents happen. But our accidents are not exactly – an act of God.

4 Does the crisis headquarters know, for instance, how many residential buildings in Skopje alone haven’t undergone commissioning, yet people live there? When they’re at work in one of those state buildings inherited from Gruevski’s era of Skopje 2014, they should check if their building has undergone commissioning. You should be a real halfwit to allow offices, business premises and bars to be built at the top of an open multistory car park. It’s like playing with a ticking bomb waiting to go off. Entire neighbourhoods and streets in Skopje are inaccessible to fire engines and ambulances because of cars parked everywhere. In vain Petre Shilegov brags about the new aerial ladder, when the fire truck can’t access so many places because of the usurped pavements, lawns, and illegally covered outdoor seating areas. Let the prosecutors who are currently investigating the fire in Tetovo investigate a little if their building on the bank of Vardar could be accessed, if, God forbid, a fire breaks out in it. I’m very interested how fire trucks and ambulances would drive all the way to the Prosecutor’s Office building.

But let’s not anger the “investors.” Since, they’re important because they pay for utilities to maintain the municipal administration, as for the users of their “investments”, it’s their own fault. What matters is to keep building. And what matters is to line one’s pockets.

5 Local elections are coming. I hope that the lists of councillors the parties will nominate won’t be made with people who’ll prove to be voting machinery to the party in the local government, but that they’ve chosen people who’ll want to service the needs of their fellow citizens.

I want to hope, but I find it hard to believe. Most parties announced that they’ve suspended their election activities during the three days of mourning for the tragedy in Tetovo. How have they suspended them, when legally, the campaign hasn’t even started yet? Still, no one reacted to the violation of the law. They have a tacit agreement to use all the privileges the party provides.

There’s no end to this.

Translated by Nikola Gjelincheski