On 16 September, in the middle of working hours, a man walked into a consulting room at the "Bukurest" polyclinic in Skopje's Karpos district. Gynaecologist Dejan Ognenovic was examining patients at the time. The attacker first threatened him verbally, then assaulted him.

The result is in the medical file: a fractured second cervical vertebra. The diagnosis is signed by a trauma specialist - dens fractura vert C2 non dislocata. The doctor's neck is immobilised in a rigid collar he has to wear at all times. In the first hours after the attack he could not even open his mouth, because the injury also reached his jaw.

A week later, the attacker is a free man.

What the Interior Ministry did

In the ministry's bulletin, the incident was handled as a routine report: "On 16 September at Skopje police, D.O. (56) from Skopje reported that he was physically attacked by G.N. at a health facility in the Karpos area where he worked. Measures are being taken to clarify the case."

Seven days on, a direct question from journalists - has the attacker been detained, and how has the offence been classified - drew no answer from the ministry. None from the Skopje public prosecutor's office either. The ministry only repeats that Skopje police are taking measures to fully clarify and document the case, after which a criminal complaint will be filed.

The doctor, who has been given no information about the proceedings, also reported the case to the ministry's internal affairs unit. His argument is simple: he was attacked while working as a physician, at his workplace, and a week with no outcome is too long.

What happened before the attack is more telling than the attack

The assault was not the first signal. A few days earlier, two women in white medical coats walked into the practice and taped black strips over the surveillance cameras to stop them recording. Earlier still, the internet cable had been cut.

The cameras, the doctor explains, were installed because patient medical files had gone missing on several occasions. They were not pointed at any area that would compromise patient privacy, but at the place where the records are kept.

Those incidents were reported to police too.

According to evidence journalists were shown, the doctor was also the target of serious verbal threats. One man warned him "not to steal another doctor's patients". Ognenovic has held the concession for this gynaecology practice for two and a half years, along with several others in the same polyclinic. The family suspects rivalry between practices.

The threat that asked to be reported

The most unsettling detail in the whole story is that, according to the family, the man making the threats asked to be reported to police immediately himself. No fear of consequences. That is either enormous self-confidence, or a calculation based on experience.

The question a family member put to the media needs no journalistic commentary, because it is an accusation in itself: "How is it possible that after a reported death threat, a physical assault, a fractured C-2 vertebra, witnesses and recordings, the person identified as the attacker is still free? Do we have to wait for the next attack to end in death before the institutions finally react?"

The family wants the Interior Ministry and the prosecutors to state publicly what has actually been done and what measures will guarantee the doctor's safety. So far - silence.

A physical assault on a healthcare worker at his workplace, with a documented cervical fracture, in an institution with an address and opening hours. If a case like that sits for a week with no publicly stated outcome, the problem is not a shortage of evidence.