site.btaNorth Macedonia Deputy Health Minister: 11 Injured in Kocani Fire Still Treated Abroad

Jovica Andovski, Deputy Minister of Health of the Republic of North Macedonia, told a press conference that 11 of those injured in the nightclub fire in Kocani two months ago are still being treated abroad, the media in the country reported on Monday. Three of them are hospitalized in Greece, four in Serbia, one in Austria and three in Turkiye.

A total of 62 people died and nearly 200 suffered varying degrees of burns and injuries after a fire broke out at the Pulse nightclub in Kocani, North Macedonia, during a concert by the popular band DNK in the early hours of March 16. Most of the victims were between 14 and 25 years old. The fire was caused by sparks from pyrotechnics used for lighting effects at the concert. Hundreds of people rushed to the only exit as flames engulfed the roof of the building.

At the end of last week, four patients who were treated in Sofia and Belgrade returned to North Macedonia, Andonovski said. According to him, a team of UK experts conducted intensive training on 45 health workers from the hospitals in Kocani, Stip and the City General Hospital 8th September in Skopje. According to the head of the Plastic Surgery Clinic, Jasmina Gjorgievska-Pavlovska, a team from Bulgaria was in Kocani to take the individual hand measurements of all patients who need compression gloves.

The people injured in the fire were transported for treatment to hospitals in the Republic of North Macedonia and specialized medical centers abroad, including Bulgaria. On May 15, the Pirogov Emergency Hospital in Sofia discharged the last seriously injured patient from the  Kocani fire being treated in Bulgaria.