Fire in Kocan: Severely injured people are sent to six foreign countries

Doctors are fighting for the health of the injured a day after the tragedy at the nightclub “Pulse” in Kocan, where 59 young people died of fire and at least 155 were injured

I have friends who have died and many who have been injured and are now in the hospital in Skopje. Some are in critical condition, some not”, Sara told Radio Free EuropeA 14-year-old who was in the center of Kocan today to honour the victims of fire.

The Northern Macedonia Health Ministry accepted the assistance offered by foreign states to care for the injured. So far, 51 injured persons have been sent for treatment in six different countries.

Fortunately, patients brought to hospitals around the country yesterday are in stable condition. And those who were transferred abroad are all generally stable, the Minister Taravari said at a news conference on 17 March.

Twenty of the injured who were sent abroad for treatment are in serious condition.

According to Taravari, the injured have been transported abroad, not because the country has no burning centre, but because there has been a large number of patients.

We've experienced shock, burning of more than a hundred people to be treated and it's normal that we don't have the capacity to treat well. These patients, due to the complications resulting from burns, and all are second or third degree already in danger of infection, and our aim has been to treat” best, he stressed.

Where were the wounded sent?

In Kocan and Staff hospitals, patients from Kocan's fire are no longer being treated. 49 injured are being treated at the Clinical Centre in Skopje, 18 at General Hospital “8 September” and 17 others at the Surgery Hospital “Shan Naum Ohridski”.

Nine patients have been sent to Turkey and are generally in stable condition, according to Taravari.

Fourteen patients have been sent to Bulgaria.

Five patients are being treated in Greece. 17 injured persons have been sent to Serbia. A young girl and a boy, both about 20 years of age, were sent to Budapest, Hungary.

Four patients have been sent to Lithuania.

More injured persons will be sent to foreign hospitals today two in Slovenia, four in Croatia and six in Austria.

Twelve other patients will be flown to the Military Medical Academy (MMA) in Belgrade, Taravari suggested.

“Situate is completely under control. We expect to have as little complications as possible”, Taravari underlined.

Macedonian citizens living abroad have offered social aid and accommodation to the injured's family.

Foreign Affairs Minister Timco Mucunski announced that he will propose that the Government's Joint and General Work Service covers travel spending and staying abroad for members of the families of Macedonian patients treated abroad.

Burnings and Operations

The Bulgarian Health Ministry said the state of 14 injured patients laid down in several hospitals in Bulgaria is serious, due to burns and inhaling of hot gases.

Hospital “N.I. Pirogov” in Sofia has been admitted eight patients, three of whom are minors aged 15 and 16. The other five are between the ages of 19 and 31.

Three injured persons, aged 17, 20, and 15, have been admitted to the duress hospital in Varna. Two of them are in mechanical ventilation.

In UMBAL “RR. Georgi” in Plovdiv, three patients aged 19, 21, and 49 have been admitted to second and third - degree burns, as well as injuries from inhaling hot gases.

Nine injured persons have been admitted at the Emergency Centre in Belgrade last night, one of whom has extremely serious, life - threatening injuries, Serbia's Ministry of Internal Affairs announced.

The injured men sent to the Emergency Center have burns ranging from two to 28 percent of the body's surface, and this is an initial assessment since last night. Some of the injured have been burned in the upper respiratory lesion”, said Milan Stojicic, director of the Djegie Clinic, Plastic Surgery and Riconstruction at the University Clinical Centre in Serbia.

In his view, all injuries to doctors at the clinic are treated as serious, life - threatening injuries.

Medical teams from Serbia, the Czech Republic, Israel and Belgium have arrived in northern Macedonia. They'll be placed in clinics where they need it. /Periscope/