Shocking account by pregnant nurse: she lost her baby on the way from Ohrid to Skopje while seeking help

Nurse Ljubica Shavreska has made public her account of a harrowing and traumatic experience in the Macedonian healthcare system, which ended with the loss of her fetus at 24 weeks of pregnancy.

In an open statement addressed to the Ministry of Health, she describes hours filled with pain and uncertainty, claiming that she encountered negligence and dismissive treatment from medical staff at several healthcare institutions.

“I am not seeking revenge; I am asking for a system in which no one has to seek special favors in order to be saved.”

Shavreska acknowledges that the loss of the pregnancy may not have been preventable, but emphasizes that the inhumane way in which she was treated by the healthcare system further compounded the trauma she experienced.

She explains that she does not intend to file a lawsuit or seek punishment for the doctors. According to her account, her aim is to draw public attention to the way patients are treated in Macedonia.

“Should a pregnant woman have to bleed, experience unbearable pain and beg for help before someone takes her seriously? Should a patient have to seek ‘connections’ to receive a medical examination?” she asks, addressing the responsible institutions with a forceful message.

At the end of her statement, the nurse expresses her gratitude to several healthcare workers and other people who tried to help her. She reminds readers that behind every patient there is a human being, and that behind every pregnant woman there is a mother.