Not a single Albanian is among the dozens of people recently hired at Kumanovo Hospital. The latest recruitment drive has sparked debate over ethnic representation, while the hospital’s director, Sasho Stoshevski, has remained silent.
Alsat Television attempted to contact Stoshevski, but was unable to reach him throughout the day.
According to information obtained by Alsat, the recruitment process took place in several stages. Initially, 10 people received employment decisions two months ago. Seven more were hired on contracts a month ago, followed by another seven a week ago.
Several days ago, an additional 62 people were hired on contract. According to the information available, all approximately 80 new employees are ethnic Macedonians.
The opposition says the outcome is a consequence of VLEN’s false promises to restore the so-called Balancer mechanism through legislation.
“You can see that Albanians are being excluded and discriminated against. This recruitment competition at Kumanovo Hospital, where more than 60 Macedonians and zero Albanians were accepted, is part of a wider pattern of recruitment taking place everywhere. This is the consequence of abolishing the Balancer, despite VLEN claiming it would strengthen the mechanism and turn it into law,” said Arbër Ademi of the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI).
Minister of Economy and Labour Besar Durmishi said that he and his party would review the director’s decision at party level and within the party’s staffing commission. He also announced that further recruitment would take place both at Kumanovo Hospital and in other institutions.
“Of course, there will also be new hires there, including people from the region, specifically from the city of Kumanovo and the surrounding areas,” Durmishi said.
Kumanovo Hospital, under the management of Sasho Stoshevski, had already come under scrutiny months ago over promotions and appointments within its clinics.
At the time, Stoshevski had promised to address ethnic representation and ensure merit-based appointments, but so far no action has been taken.
Hundreds of people have recently been hired at central and local institutions, while the principle of fair and adequate ethnic representation has reportedly been disregarded in almost all of them.
