The Health Ministry announced on Wednesday that it will greatly expand the capacity of the Tetovo hospital, to treat patients in its cardiology, skin, throat and gastro departments. The hospital in Tetovo is one of the planned regional centers, together with the hospitals in Bitola and Stip, that are expected to reduce the number of patients being sent for treatment to the capital Skopje.

"Analysing the need to strengthen the capacity of our hospitals, using the electronic doctor appointment system, shows that in the past six months there were about 10.000 appointments to Skopje, and only the four departments I mentioned accounted for 1.684 appointments. This is the reason why we will focus to improve the capacity of the Tetovo hospital in these areas", Health Minister Nikola Todorov said, adding that the goal is to have as many patients as possible treated closer to their home town.

"Why would a specialist in a field be able to perform a procedure in Skopje, but an equally trained specialist in Tetovo not be able to do it and needs to forward his patients to Skopje?", Minister Todorov added.

The project would involve procuring additional equipment for the Tetovo hospital and programs to educate doctors from the hospital for between three and six months and sending them for further specialization.