site.btaHealth Minister Silvi Kirilov: Timely Evacuation of the Injured from Kocani, Never Hesitated to Help

Speaking to reporters at Sofia's Pirogov Emergency Hospital on Tuesday, Bulgaria’s Health Minister Silvi Kirilov said: “We conducted a timely evacuation of the injured, I’d say most of them children, and they were hospitalized in Bulgaria before the evacuation of the other injured had even started.” Kirilov, his North Macedonian counterpart Arben Taravari, and Foreign Ministers Georg Georgiev of Bulgaria and Timco Mucunski of North Macedonia visited victims of the March 16 nightclub fire in Kocani treated in the hospital.

“We are happy to have achieved this result,” Kirilov said. “We have never hesitated whether to help or not. The first and only thought was how to quickly organize the evacuation and create the perfect conditions for the transportation of the patients who are in critical condition, on artificial ventilation, and might deteriorate at any time,” Kirilov explained.

The condition of the injured in the fire in North Macedonia who are hospitalized in Bulgaria remains serious, the Bulgarian Health Ministry said earlier Tuesday.

Cities around the country have organized blood donation campaigns for the victims in Bulgarian hospitals. Fourteen victims of the fire in Kocani have been admitted for treatment in Bulgaria.