The „Borka Taleski” general hospital in Prilep has received two new specialised machines. A digital ceiling-mounted X-ray system with a wireless detector - 9.3 million denars, and a video-EEG suite for paediatric patients - around 1.7 million denars. The second machine is a donation from the company VIK, and it is the first place outside Skopje for diagnosing paediatric neurological episodes.

For a region that serves around 120,000 residents, this matters. Until now, patients needing quality radiology had to travel to Skopje or to private clinics - at costs many simply could not afford. The digital X-ray means scans that used to take four days to process are now ready in a few minutes.

Other paradoxes of the system: the hospital still runs with 4 radiologists instead of the 6 required by law. The equipment is there - the people for it aren't. That is the old Macedonian story: we bought the machine, there is nobody to drive it.

In recent years, the hospital has invested more than 50 million denars in equipment for urology, orthopaedics, sterilisation and gynaecology. The debt has been cut from 200 to 109 million denars. That is the first time in a decade that Prilep's healthcare is reporting falling debt rather than a fresh credit line.

The video-EEG suite is especially important. From the moment it went into operation, parents of children with epileptic episodes no longer have to travel to the University Clinic for Paediatrics in Skopje for diagnosis. That is a three- to four-hour journey, waiting rooms, overnight stays - for something that can now be done 80 kilometres from home.

That is why this good news comes with a twist at the end: these investments are the exception, not the rule. The Skopje Clinical Centre is still falling apart. The Veles hospital runs on equipment from the 1990s. Prilep got lucky this time. The question is whether the next big move will be in another town - or whether this will remain a one-off example of what can happen when local authorities and companies get seriously involved in healthcare.