Skopje, 6 June 2023 (MIA) — The country needs 340 more firefighters to reach the legally required number, according to a Center for Civil Communications survey that also says fire departments and hospitals nationwide use vehicles that are decades old.

Sixteen out of the 34 fire departments nationwide employ fewer than the minimum number of firefighters required under law, the survey shows.

The country's capital needs to have 215 additional firefighters, given that the Skopje fire department has only 190 of the required 405. Kumanovo needs another 33, Bitola needs another 21, and Tetovo needs 17 additional firefighters.

The country's 34 fire departments use a total of 284 vehicles, including fire trucks, water tankers, and transport vehicles. Half of these vehicles are older than 30 years. Only 15 percent of them were produced in the last decade. Sixty-five vehicles were bought in the previous three years, but they are also 17 years old on average.

The oldest firefighting vehicle is the Valandovo fire department's 57 years old 1966 TAM fire truck.

The survey of the country's ambulance cars used by hospitals natiowide shows that a total of 58 health facilities have 263 medical vehicles. The oldest is a 1988 Mercedes vehicle used by the Oteshevo Institute for Prevention Treatment and Rehabilitation of Chronic Respiratory Nonspecific Diseases.

Only about 22 percent of the ambulance cars had been bought by health facilities with their own funding, according to the survey. As much as 73 percent of them had been donated by other countries, NGOs and individuals or given to the hospitals by the Ministry of Health.

Compared to 2019, however, the country now has 80 more ambulance cars although only 30 of the newly procured ones are less than three years old.

The Center for Civil Communications did the survey as part of its "Monitoring of Public Procurements" project funded by the Open Society Foundation Macedonia. mr/