Skopje, 24 November 2023 (MIA) - The inquiry committee on the Oncology Clinic scandal resumed its session at the Parliament on Friday, with members of the committee presenting their views based on transcripts and documents that have been reviewed in relation to the developments at the Clinic. 

Chair of the inquiry committee Rashela Mizrahi said that according to her view of the extensive material that has been gathered by the committee so far, 33 laws, decrees and by-laws have been violated in the work of the Oncology Clinic, as well as in the overall healthcare system in the period between 2019 and 2021.

"In such scope of materials, I just followed the legal path of how the system was supposed to function, about the defects detected by the State Audit Office, how the mechanism was supposed to block further defects at the Clinic, how the system was supposed to react and protect the patients and their basic rights to treatment and the right to life, which is constitutionally guaranteed," said Mizrahi, who added that this indicates a complete suppression of the health system, i.e. that the health policy has been to break all laws.

SDSM MP Nenad Kocikj said that the country's Constitution and the Law guarantee the right to life for every individual, ever since the independence, and the MPs are here to do their job.

"Whether patients had the right to life before 2017 with a therapy that existed but was never available to them is a matter for the public to judge, if only one formula for biological therapy was available at the Oncology Clinic, and today there are more than 30 formulas. Precisely the procurement of those 30 therapy formulas shows that the goal of the health policy is not to introduce chaos, but the tendency has been and is to provide adequate therapy for as many patients as possible," he said.   

According to him, the budget of the Health Insurance Fund is adopted in the Parliament, i.e. by the MPs, and what the MPs can do and what is their responsibility, is the need to amend the Law on Public Procurement in order to overcome the shortcomings and ensure better health care for all citizens.

"However, we should not be acting as a court, the institutions sent us documentation, evidence is not submitted here, that's for the court and the Prosecutor's Office. For any abuse, there should be a name and surname of those who abused their position, regardless of the position they held. We cannot recover the damage in terms of the people who have not received proper treatment in the last 15 to 20 years, and should have received treatment, however, in their name it is necessary to push this matter to the end so as not to allow such a thing to happen again in the future at any clinic, and to amend the laws for better and more efficient health care," said Kocikj. 

SDSM MP Beti Rabadzhievska Naumovska said, among other, that when it comes to responsibility, it should also be demanded from the politicians who did not make any effort to procure therapy and allowed people with oncological diseases not to be able to exercise for years the right to availability of appropriate and quality therapy, such as biological therapy, as is guaranteed by the Constitution. 

"We heard that the surge of biological therapy and approved funds started exactly in 2019, first with Mden 300 million to reach Mden 1,320 billion in 2023 as the number of patients increased. And now to demand responsibility from the one who provided quality medicine not only for oncology but also for the patients of the clinic for children's diseases, for those with rare diseases.... and to amnesty the one who did nothing is a bit strange," said Rabadzhievska Naumovska speaking about former health minister Venko Filipche, and urged for closing the investigation into the Oncology Clinic as soon as possible. 

VMRO-DPMNE MP Dafina Stojanovska said Filipche had provided medicine, but also provided profit, and according to her that is why patients have died. She pointed out that the investigation should in fact be open, as a pre-trial investigation is currently ongoing with the Prosecutor's Office. 

"You are urging for closing the investigation as soon as possible, but I would urge for opening the investigation as soon as possible. And it is true that we are not judges and prosecutors, but you obviously want to backslide on the reason for which you also agreed to start the work of this inquiry committee. There must be political responsibility, and it belongs to the Minister of Health," said Stojanovska, among other. 

The next session of the inquiry committee is scheduled for Monday. 

The members are currently analyzing documents and transcripts of the testimonies by about 60 witnesses during the first 30 days of the commission's term, including current and former ministers of health, current and former directors of the Health Insurance Fund, current and former directors of the Oncology Clinic, auditors, officials.

The inquiry committee was set up after the Public Prosecutor's Office launched a pre-trial investigation following media allegations that Oncology Clinic staff were withholding life-saving medical care from cancer patients and reselling cancer drugs.