An idea that has existed for years, but always stalls in the same place - a shortage of staff and space. Now, the Clinical Hospital in Štip says, the regional Emergency Center will finally open by September at the latest, serving patients from the eastern and southeastern regions with life-threatening conditions.

The center will run 24 hours a day, seven days a week, as a surgical and internal-medicine emergency unit for children and adults. „Patients will first be admitted for diagnostics, then treated as needed," explains deputy director Biljana Eftimova. Director Vladko Zahariev adds that the concept has existed for years, but was postponed precisely because of insufficient medical staff and inadequate space.

What changed? Through renovations - including a modular building for the „My Appointment" system - space was freed up, so the project is now feasible. To solve the staffing problem, the hospital last month posted a job ad for 25 positions.

On paper, this is good news for eastern Macedonia - a region that waited years for a proper emergency center. But promises about healthcare infrastructure in this country have a long history of being postponed. „By September at the latest" is a deadline worth remembering - not to celebrate today, but to ask in October whether it's actually open. Because the gap between an announcement and an open door, in Macedonian healthcare, is often measured in years.