Humanitarian action for improving the hospital conditions

“The psychiatric hospital “Negorci” must be renovated


The National Council of Macedonian Women (NCMW) HAS ESTABLISHED THE INFORMAL LOBBY-GROUP “Humana” in the beginning of 2007 to help raise money for making the necessary renovations to the psychiatric hospital in Negorci.

In the month of February, they organized an action for collecting clothes, bed sheets, blankets, hygienic material and shoes, and in the same month, some of them were taken to the hospital. “Civic World” followed the second activity for delivering clothes and hygiene materials, which was realized on 24 February 2007. Olga Kungulovska and Dusanka Vulgarakis from the Aerodrom Municipality Women Organization “Feniks”, headed for the hospital in Negorci, together with the team from the Macedonian Red Cross consisting of Dr. Igor Kamsikovski, Zoran Maljcev and Zoran Rogikj.

The psychiatric hospital “Negorci” is located in the south of Macedonian, in the foot of the Kozuv Mountain, seven kilometers north of Gevgelija. Traveling there is easy since you drive along the highway that leads to Gevgelija all the time. When entering the town, one can easily find the local road that leads to the hospital, where we were greeted by its director, Dr. Petar Kangov, who told us the basic information regarding this health institution. He explained that the Psychiatric Hospital has existed since 1972, when it was founded as part of the Medical Center in Gevgelija, and starting from January 2006, it has acted as a separate legal entity. It accommodates about 200 patients.

 

A review of costumes

On 6 March, at the Universal Hall in Skopje, a humanitarian manifestation organized by the lobby-group “Humana” (NCMW) took place.

The event’s agenda consisted of two parts, which took place on stage simultaneously/respectively. The first part of the event was the review of costumes that the opera singer Milka Eftimova used to wear in her performances around the world. Vesna Petrusevska, Lejla Sabit, Ana Sutinovska, Anita Nikolovska, Elena Risteska, Nora Sakiri and a number of other well-known performers, journalists and businesswomen walked out on the around wearing Milka Eftimova’s costumes. In the second, entertaining part, one could hear the recognizable sounds of both, the classical music and the pop songs, performed by Milka Eftimova herself, Jasminka Cakar, Aleksandra Pileva, Suzana Turundzieva, Maja Grozdanovska – Panceva, Gjoko Tanevksi, Beni Sakiri. A lot of people came at the Universal Hall to attend the event. The Minister of Health at the Government of the Republic of Macedonia, Mr. Imer Selmani, gave his contribution too, by attending the event. All the money that was raised from the ticket sales will be used for renovating the ruined parts of the hospital in Negorci.  

The hospital provides the southeastern region of the country. It employs about 90 people, ten of whom are doctors, 46 are nurses, 20 paramedics and technical personnel and social workers. It is located in a space of about 3-4 hectare of land, it has ten separate buildings with 10 psychiatric wards. The patients are divided according to their sex, type of disease and the degree of disease. On average, one ward provides for 20-25 patients. Some of the hospital buildings are relatively old. They were built in the period between 1945-1947, with an intention to serve as residential buildings; however, they were later readjusted. During the 1970s, the buildings D1 and D2 – both for acute psychoses – were built; in the 1980s, two prefabricated buildings were raised with the capacity of bout 90 patients. When attempting to assess the present condition of the hospital, Dr. Petar Kangov said that the needs to renovate the hospitals are constant. 

“One can never say that all things have been done in the hospital and there is no need for any renovation. The damage on the walls and the windows occur all the time, much quicker than in other health institutions. Here, the walls suffer damage all the time and the doors are always being broken. That is our reality, those are our conditions. We cannot bring patients at our own choice. During the psychoses period, the patients are prone on breaking a window, breaking a door, wetting the bed. Therefore, these hospitals require more frequent renovations in comparison to other institutions”, said Dr. Kangov.

After he had introduced us to the current condition in the hospital, we paid a visit to all the wards. When visiting institutions of that kind, one can often feel sick. However, that wasn’t the case here. The wards, besides the difficult conditions, were all clean and tidied up. The patients either relaxed themselves or did their daily chores. The wards are located in separate buildings which are connected with a wide park used by all patients when the weather is nice.

When walking round the hospital, D.Kangov took us to the rooms that need reconstruction the most. That is the place where the kitchen is located. The old kitchen is ruined to a great extent, it lacks some of the basic conditions, the ventilation is bad, water steam condensates. It has been renewed a year ago, but the walls are already ruined. A project has already been made for a new kitchen that would include a dining room. Another necessary thing in the hospital is a new washing machine, since the existing one is overloaded.

Since we got the general picture of the condition at the Psychiatric Hospital “Negorci”, we unloaded the packages with clothes and hygiene materials that had been brought that day. For the Red Cross team those are everyday activities, but still, Dr. Kamsikoski explained to us their role in the activity.

“Our role is one of volunteers, we do humanitarian work. I am here as head of the medical team – the unit in charge of responding in crisis, which is part of the City of Skopje Red Cross and the Republic of Macedonia Red Cross. The unit has five teams. Zoran Maljcev is the head of logistics unit, and there are three other teams: for security in water, security on a mountain and water cleansing. The unit was established for the first time in 1994; however, it has been fully operating with training courses since 2004. Our role here in this moment is based on the principle on which the Red Cross is based – that is the principle of humanity, the humane in us, the volunteering and the desire to help in any situation. The cooperation is complete, and in this occasion we met our opportunities. When it comes to humanity, there is no simplicity, no borders; it is literally inside of us, it is what we want to do as volunteers and as people, too”, says Kamsikoski.

The National Council of Women in the Republic of Macedonia is the key initiator of the programme for improving the conditions for stay and work at the Psychiatric Hospital “Negorci”. The people who were directly involved in the realization of this action were Olga Kungulovska and Dusanka Vulgarakis from the association “Phoenix”.

“Since we found out about the condition at the Psychiatric Hospital “Negorci”, we began collecting the assets for improving the situation of and the conditions at the hospital. In order to build new facilities and participate in improving the conditions at the hospital, all the activists from the associations in Skopje brought clothes. We announced a call for collecting clothes for the hospital. From the old clothes spot, where we packed the clothes collected, we brought them to the hospital. A month and a half ago, in a special humanitarian action, we raised some money and on our first visit to the hospital, we brought new blankets, sheets and bed lining. It was then that we brought a decision to introduce a continuous activity in our humanitarian programme so that we could help the hospital without stopping”, said Olga Kunguloska.

We attended one of the numerous actions that are to follow throughout the year. After the termination of the humanitarian action that day, our awareness that the humane acts should follow was deepened. The need for continuous help to the hospital is more than evident. It takes constant help for replacing the wall and the floor tiles, as well as for renovating some of the rooms where the patients stay. The need for clothes and blankets is constant, too.

The activities of the lobby-group “Humana” at the National Council of the Women in the Republic of Macedonia, which are going to take place throughout the year, are an appeal for all those who are able to help and do that in a way to express their own humanity.   

Toni Dimkov