VIDEO | A student with 5 passed exams at the Faculty of Medicine in Skopje, she was a "phantom doctor" for 1018 patients!
Snezhana Trencheva, wife of a primarius doctor Viktor Trenchev from the Clinic for Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, she received a salary in the private practice for three years "Kala Medical" in Skopje, where she appeared as a "specialist in family medicine" with 1018 patients to her name. The practice had concluded an agreement with the Health Fund and listed Trencheva as its "chosen doctor of medicine", even though she had only passed five exams at the Faculty of Medicine and had never been licensed by the Medical Chamber, neither as a general practitioner nor as a specialist. This fiasco for "Free Press" was confirmed by the Fund, the Faculty of Medicine and the Chamber of Physicians in Skopje.
- We inform you that Snezhana Trencheva is not registered in the register of issued, renewed, extended and revoked licenses maintained by the Medical Chamber - said the Chamber for "Free Press".
The institutions are decisive that even though Trencheva did not graduate from the Faculty of Medicine, she nevertheless enrolled and completed a private specialization in family medicine at the Faculty of Medicine in Skopje. Immediately after "Sloboden Pechat" started asking questions, this specialization was expressly canceled by the educational and scientific council. The reason is that one cannot specialize before graduating.
We are discovering a new scandalous case of institutional sleepiness and inattentiveness, which led to possible embezzlement of budget money of health insurers. In the preliminary investigation, the Prosecutor's Office checks whether it is quackery, or whether the version told by Trencheva is the truth - that she was only a "phantom" in the practice where she gave her employment documents. According to her, she never appeared at the "Kala Medical" office and did not treat patients, but someone else, that is, the owner of the office who is also under the scrutiny of the Prosecutor's Office, helped her to get a facsimile from the FZOM so that examinations could be carried out and prescriptions are issued in her name.
"I gave the documents so that my internship could run, and I did not treat patients," claims Trencheva
According to Trencheva for "Sloboden Pechat", she gave the documents to the clinic knowingly, but not to treat patients, but to complete her internship, and she received 20 denars per month in her bank account while she was sitting at home, and someone else was on her behalf. punched the facsimile with her name, on examinations, referrals and prescriptions for 1018 patients. She claims that she gave one license to "Kala Medical" to produce a facsimile in her name, but another license ended up in the Fund's archives. According to her, all this is to make her a diversion.
But from the office "Kala Medical" they have a completely opposite attitude.
- She had patients, she came to work with a physical presence and statements were made to the Prosecutor's Office about this matter, Dr. Valentina Livrinska from the "Kala Medical" office told us in a short telephone conversation.
The story of Snezhana Trencheva is strange, not because of anything else, but because of the number of institutional protective dams that the documents in her name managed to jump. One of them – the computer in the Health Fund, still revealed a problem.
But by then she was paid her salaries, she worked as a doctor in a private health facility that had a contract with the Fund, and she managed to pass the five exams - to enroll in a private specialization in family medicine, which the Ministry of Health financed with 1.000 euros in the first year.
"During the period when she had a contract with the Fund, Dr. Snezhana Trencheva had a total of 1018 patients, of which 38 patients were under the age of 6 and 166 patients were between the ages of 7 and 18," the FZOM told us.
Husband and wife with the same license number – FZOM allowed!
Every doctor in Macedonia in order to work must have a license issued by the Chamber of Physicians. It has a number on it that never changes. Only the title changes from general practitioner to specialist or subspecialist, but the license number remains the same throughout the doctor's career. However, Trencheva's licenses submitted to the records of the Faculty of Medicine in Skopje when she enrolled in specialization and the one submitted to "Kala Medical" upon employment (to conclude a contract with the Fund) - have different numbers. The Health Fund did not notice this when it concluded an annex agreement with "Kala Medical" in which Trencheva was a "newly selected doctor in primary health care". The annex was concluded on the basis of a request, a certificate for a passed specialist exam in family medicine and a work license. The fund processed the request from September 24, 2019, but did not notice any irregularities in the documents submitted by the private healthcare facility to employ Trencheva as a newly selected doctor.
- Among the documents for Trencheva, "Kala Medical" submitted a certificate for passing the specialist exam in family medicine no. 0903-695/1 from February 05.02.2013, XNUMX, from the Faculty of Medicine Skopje. The document was a copy with the office's seal and a signature faithful to the original, placed by the authorized person of the health facility - claims FZOM.
At the moment when Trencheva's husband advanced in his medical career and received the title of primarius, Trencheva's doctor's career came to an unexpected end.
- On the part of the Fund, when updating the data for the renewed license of Doctor Viktor Trenchev, after a letter from the PHI University Clinic for Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Skopje, the Fund should prepare a new facsimile for Doctor Viktor Trenchev due to the assigned title of primarius, the Fund's system provided information that under the same license number - 0009756, the health worker Snezhana Trencheva, doctor specialist in family medicine with facsimile number 159956, employed at PZU "Kala Medikal", Skopje.
On May 4, 2023, the Fund asked the Medical Chamber to check and rule on the license of Doctor Viktor Trenchev (as a specialist in general surgery and the new license as a subspecialist) issued by the Medical Chamber, to check whether the license for work of doctor Snezhana Trencheva and whether it has been renewed, and why there are licenses with the same number for both doctors. The Medical Chamber submitted a response that Doctor Viktor Trenchev has a valid plastic and reconstructive surgery license, and the person Snezhana Trencheva is not recorded in the Register of issued, extended, renewed and revoked work licenses.
Because of all this, suspicion arose that PZU "Kala Medical" used forged documents (certificate of passed professional exam and work license from LC) and based on them concluded an annex to the contract with the Fund. FZOM has submitted a criminal report on June 9, 2023 to the PJSC Skopje, and the report itself states the amount of damage caused to the Fund - the FZOM explained to "Sloboden Pechat".
The Ministry of the Interior also filed a criminal complaint against Trencheva
The prosecutor's office in Skopje is still conducting a preliminary investigation for Trencheva, although there is a notarized statement at the Faculty of Medicine in Skopje that she herself gave - that she did not graduate from the Faculty of Medicine. She told us that she gave the statement under pressure, a year and three months ago, because "she was threatened by the faculty to prosecute the police, she was afraid for her family and her safety." Trencheva says that the Faculty of Medicine in Skopje was suggested how to "get out" of this scandal about the uncompleted university, and about the assigned specialization - to say that she finished university in Albania so that others do not suffer. The Faculty of Medicine in Skopje categorically denies this.
- They told me to say that I didn't know that I had to have completed a medical school in order to enroll in a specialization, or to say that I graduated in Albania. I could not make such false statements, so I finally went to a notary who asked me if I was making the statement in my right mind. I gave a statement to a notary that I have not graduated from the Faculty of Medicine. And I submitted such a notarized statement to the Faculty of Medicine a year and three months ago, just so that they would leave my family alone - Trencheva told us.
The prosecution is not in a hurry with the case. He has been under investigation for more than a year.
- In the specific case, two criminal charges have been joined, one from the Health Insurance Fund and one from the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The reports cover two individuals who have been reported for falsifying documents, one individual for negligent work in the service, as well as the legal entity – a medical practice. In the procedure, the competent public prosecutor takes actions in a pre-investigation procedure, within the framework of which he will fully investigate whether the specified criminal acts or other acts that are prosecuted ex officio have been committed.
In that direction, part of the documentation was obtained and interrogations of persons were carried out, including some of the registered ones. A part of the documentation is still being obtained, and an interrogation of the representatives of the Health Insurance Fund as a victim in the specific case has been scheduled, after which a public prosecutor's decision will be made - say the Basic Public Prosecutor's Office in Skopje, which has had the criminal charges of more than a year own address.
The medical faculty says - he has passed five exams, and his specialization has ended!
University "St. Cyril and Methodius" in Skopje sent detailed answers to the questions of "Sloboden Pechat". In them it is written:
At the University "St. Cyril and Methodius" in Skopje - Faculty of Medicine - Skopje, there is no graduate student named Snezhana (maiden name Sokoloska) Trencheva. According to the data from the student file of the person Snezhana Sokoloska from Prilep, number 14484 at the Faculty of Medicine in Skopje, she enrolled in the academic year 2002/2003 and in it there are applications for passing 5 (five) exams only. The person Snezhana Sokoloska enrolled at the Faculty of Medicine in Skopje in the academic year 2002/2003 and did not finish it, according to the Faculty of Medicine in Skopje.
From there they add that when they received a letter from the Medical Chamber that Trencheva did not have a license, on 14.06.2023 the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the RSM, Department for Suppression of Organized and Serious Crime/Criminal Investigation Department, the Faculty of Medicine submitted a report of a possible criminal offense. . Until the end of August 2023, the Faculty sent the requested documentation on several occasions at the request of the Ministry of the Interior.
Until this moment, the Faculty has no information about the outcome of the procedure.
In the file maintained by the Department for Specializations and Subspecializations of the faculty of Snezhana Sokoloska, there is: application; photocopy of work license with registration number 0092439 issued on September 28.09.2007, 1; photocopy of M-2/M-3 and M-07 forms and of the employment contract with the employer PZU Dr. Mitka Trencheva from Skopje; Decision on approval of specialization no. 02-3483-02.12.2009 of 07. and Agreement on the mutual rights and obligations of specialists in family medicine and the Faculty of Medicine in Skopje for the specialist Sokoloska Snezhana no. 02-3483-07.12.2009 from 0702; agreement for financing the first year of specialization in family medicine concluded between the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Moldova - Project Coordination Unit, the Faculty of Medicine at UKIM in Skopje and Dr. Snezhana Sokoloska, specialist in family medicine number 234-27.1.2020 dated 0903; payment slips for payments made to the funds for specialization; application for taking the specialist exam no. 695-1/05.02.2013 dated 0903; decision on approval of taking the specialist exam number 695-1/05.02.2013 dated February 05.03.2013, XNUMX; Minutes for a passed specialist exam in family medicine on XNUMX/XNUMX/XNUMX and a completed specialist book in the name of Snezhana Sokoloska.
This answer was shared by the Medical Faculty in Skopje. Snezhana pointed out that she worked as an administrator at the PHU "Dr. Mitka Trencheva".
This is the second case of this caliber that "Sloboden Pechat" has revealed this year
There are not enough doctors in Macedonia, but there are more than enough "strange institutional blind spots". The most obvious dangerous iniquities are draining the Fund, while from the mouths of the politicians are flowing platitudes about "the health of the citizens as the highest priority" and control over the operation of health facilities. In the meantime, practice shows that there are people who directly specialize in medicine before graduating. The fund pays them to be phantom doctors or even worse – to treat patients. The system allows!
The Fund claims that they made changes after the Trencheva case. Upon receipt and completion of documentation for the conclusion of a new contract or an annex contract for work with the Fund by a private health institution, they now require a notarized license for the doctor. Negotiations are underway with the Medical, Dental and Pharmaceutical Chamber to have an electronic inspection of all licenses and when they are issued and when they need to be renewed, so that the Fund can have an inspection of the data at the time of concluding the contract.
This is the second case of a similar caliber that "Sloboden Pechat" has revealed this year. As before we published after we provided all the documentation, a doctor was employed at the Gevgelija Hospital without a license from the Medical Chamber, who "specialized" in anesthesia and resuscitation at the state level, without having graduated from the Faculty of Medicine.
