The promised University Clinical Center in Skopje has not been built

We will build a contemporary and functional University Clinical Center in Skopje to provide high-quality health services for all the citizens in the country.

[Source: Election program of SDSM “Plan for life in Macedonia“, p. 137 and p. 253, date: December 2016]

EXPLANATION:

The promise given by SDSM during the campaign of the December 2016 snap elections, claiming that in the first two years after assuming power they “will build a contemporary and functional University Clinic Center in Skopje to provide high-quality health services for all the citizens in the country” has not been fulfilled by now (27.06.2019)

This promise is part of the election platform „Plan for life in Macedonia“ and has been mentioned in two places. Firstly, this promise is stated in the chapter “Good public health” – Secondary and tertiary health protection (p. 137), and secondly within the “Plan 24 – urgent reform priorities of the new government in the first 2 years” (p. 253). Аccording to the deadline for implementation stated within the program, the new University Clinical Center should have been built until the end of the previous month at the latest, given the fact that the government led by SDSM assumed power on 31 May 2017. However, this promise has not been fulfilled.

According to the latest announcements, the construction of the new Clinical Center should start in the Municipality of Gjorche Petrov, near the exit of the city beside a ring road in the area of Vele Pole. The site is about 140 hectares and the new Clinical Center is planned to be built on 90 hectares. The project is worth around 400 million euros and will be financed through a loan from the Council of Europe Development Bank.

Twenty days ago (03.06.2019) the Government adopted a Decision to start the procedure for conversion of the agricultural land into a construction site in the Municipality of Gjorche Petrov for the new Clinical Center. The expectations of the Minister of Health, Venko Filipche, are that the construction process of the new Clinical Center could start by the end of the year, and the forecasts for the earliest opening of the Center is 2025.

WHAT IS THE BEST LOCATION FOR THE NEW CLINICAL CENTER?

In March last year (2018) the Minister of Health, Venko Filipche, at a press conference announced that the new Clinical Center will be built in Bardovci near the Psychiatric Hospital. He also said that the construction will last for about seven years.

We expect that in about two years the Municipality of Karposh and the City of Skopje will prepare the terrain for starting the construction of an enormous facility that would be built in about five years…

Filipche then mentioned that there are certain financial obligations according to the previously signed contract for the construction of the Clinical Center, but that the Government will try to negotiate a new solution without paying penalties. Let’s remember that the previous Government led by VMRO-DPMNE on 19.05.2017 (around ten days before the change of power occurred) signed an agreement for construction of this health facility with the contractors: “Granit” and “Beton” from Macedonia and “Inso Systems” from Italy. According to the plans at that time, it was supposed to be built on the existing location of the Clinical Center.

The current government, however, in January (2019) – one year after the announcement that the new Clinical Center will be built in Bardovci, abandoned this location and now claims that the best solution is Gjorche Petrov.

The most ideal location for the construction of the new Clinical Center is the one in Gjorche Petrov near the ring road, and the construction should start by the end of this year, said the Minister of Health, Venko Filipche, in the debate program “Top Tema” (January, 2019).

In February, the Minister Filipche announced that the Government has adopted the Decision to build the new Clinical Center in Gjorche Petrov. He then said that there were three possible locations – in Karposh (Bardovci), Gjorche Petrov and Petrovec. The expert team that assessed the locations concluded that Gjorche Petrov is the ideal location because of the fact that the site is state property, its location and the lower cost price.

Having in mind all of this, as well as the fact that the deadline for construction of a “contemporary and functional University Clinical Center in Skopje”, given as an electoral promise, has already passed (31.05.2019), and in the moment of writing of this text (27.06.2019) the construction of the facility has not began, and since it has been announced that the construction will start by the end of the year and it will be finished by 2025 the earliest (a date exceeding this Government’s mandate) we deem this promise of SDSM unfulfilled.

SOURCES:

• Program of SDSM План за живот во Македонија ( p. 253) [Accessed on 27 June 2019]
• Press 24 Government:  Усвоена информацијата за изградба на Универзитетски Клинички центар [Accessed on 27 June 2019]
• Sitel (20 November 2016):  Објавен тендерот за изградба на новиот Клинички центар во Скопје [Accessed on 27 June 2019]
• Grid (4 June 2019):  Министерство за здравство: Со новиот клинички центар висококвалитетна здравствена заштита
• TV Nova (3 June 2019):  Почнаа катастарските активности за новиот Клинички центар во Ѓорче Петров [Accessed on 27 June 2019]
• Time.mk (6 February 2019): Новиот клинички ќе се гради во Ѓорче Петров, процедурите до крајот на годинава [Accessed on 27 June 2019]
• Kanal 5 (6 February 2019):  Новиот клинички ќе се гради во Ѓорче Петров, процедурите до крајот на годинава [Accessed on 27 June 2019]
• Pogled (29 January 2019):  Филипче: Локацијата во Ѓорче Петров најидеална за изградба на новиот клинички центар [Accessed on 27 June 2019]
• Time.mk (9 March 2018)  (Видео) Новиот Клинички центар ќе се гради во населбата Бардовци [Accessed on 27 June 2019]
• Makfaks (9 March 2018) (Видео) Новиот Клинички центар ќе се гради во населбата Бардовци [Accessed on 27 June 2019]
• Meta (9 March 2018) Филипче: Новиот Клинички центар ќе се гради во Бардовци, потребни се околу седум години [Accessed on 27 June 2019]

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