Morbid Testimony at the Trial of the Modular Hospital: I Saw People Burning Alive, the Fire Claimed Dozens of Lives in an Instant

Photo: Free Press

Doctors and nurses, as well as relatives of patients, testified at today's main hearing in the court process for the burnt modular hospital in Tetovo.

The relatives of the patients who were lying in the modular hospital on the evening when the fire broke out, say that they had to be there and provide care to the sick, because there were many infected and few medical staff.

Some managed to save the patients, but some of the relatives barely saved their lives. Mumin Ismaili says that together with his brother, they were with their mother for 24 hours. They had to take care of her all the time.

On the evening of September 8, 2021, when he came to the modular, a patient who was in the room with his mother, her health deteriorated. A doctor came to resuscitate her. During the medical intervention, Ismaili went outside. He heard screams and thought that the patient had died, so he decided to enter the room and express his condolences to the relatives. But when he got inside, he realized that the screams were due to the fire breaking out.

"When I entered the room where the fire broke out, the medical staff immediately told me to move to another room. But the fire spread very quickly and soon engulfed the entire hospital. I went out into the corridor to see what was happening, I saw how people were burning, I came back and tried to save my mother, but someone from outside the window started pulling me to get out. I was trying to save the mother, but some of the medical staff told me that the mother had already been dragged out. They didn't tell me the truth, so that I could get out and at least save myself. It was a great tragedy. We barely saved a life," said Ismaili.

The doctor who was on duty on the evening when the modular hospital burned down, said in his testimony that the fire broke out a few seconds after he used an apparatus to resuscitate the patient whose condition had worsened. The flames engulfed the room in ten seconds, spreading to the rest of the hospital. PP devices would not have prevented the fire, added the doctor.

"There were over 20 patients in the modular, I did not see any escort with the patients. On the door was written no entry for patients. I saw a man who was an escort for only one patient who was with special needs, that is allowed. I did not see an escort in the other rooms. I don't remember how many and where there were PP-devices, but even if there were such devices in large numbers and there were firefighters outside, the fire could not have been stopped," said one of the doctors on duty.

"I heard screaming, they brought buckets of water to put out the fire, I saw the sisters." There were no PP devices in the modular hospital, if there were, I would have extinguished them with those devices. The medical staff didn't let us in, I begged them because I had a person with special needs", was part of the testimony of one of today's witnesses, a relative of a patient.

"I looked after my husband, but I didn't sit in the room all the time, I went in as needed to change his clothes, I spent more time looking at him through the window, we were forbidden to enter. I somehow managed to get inside because I had to repeat once again that someone changed his clothes, the doctors strictly forbade us to enter the modular hospital," another witness, a relative of one of the patients from the modular hospital, testified.

Photo: Free Press

The main hearing will continue with the hearing of other witnesses on February 16

The Tetovo Prosecutor's Office charged the two directors Florin Besimi и Artan Etemi for the crime of serious acts against the general security and the doctor Boban Vucevski for the crime of not acting according to health regulations during an epidemic, and Tetovo Clinical Hospital as a legal entity, for the crimes of causing public danger and not acting according to health regulations during an epidemic.

In October 2021, after the expert opinion of the Ministry of the Interior, the Prosecutor's Office informed that the fire in the modular building occurred as a result of a burning extension cable, to which a resuscitation device was connected.

Dear reader,

Our access to web content is free, because we believe in equality in information, regardless of whether someone can pay or not. Therefore, in order to continue our work, we ask for the support of our community of readers by financially supporting the Free Press. Become a member of Sloboden Pechat to help the facilities that will enable us to deliver long-term and quality information and TOGETHER let's ensure a free and independent voice that will ALWAYS BE ON THE PEOPLE'S SIDE.

SUPPORT A FREE PRESS.
WITH AN INITIAL AMOUNT OF 60 DENARS

Video of the day