The Donchev family was even less lucky. They also stored stem cells for their newborn, choosing a Hungarian bank via an intermediary company in North Macedonia.
Shortly before their 10-year contract expired in 2023, they tried to renew it but received no response, despite contractual obligations.
“I spent two or three months trying to contact first the people here who handled the collection, then the Hungarian bank, and eventually I gave up. I hit a dead end,” the mother, Jelena, said.
The family attempted to contact both the foreign bank and several former employees at the Macedonian intermediary but received no answer.
“The only option left is a lawsuit. But how can I sue someone in Hungary? That would cost a fortune,” Jelena said.
The intermediary company in North Macedonia that organised the collection of stem cells for the Donchev family told BIRN that it long ago stopped operating in this business; it said all questions should be directed to the bank in Hungary.
The Donchev family has not been able to make contact with the bank.
The Cholakovski and Donchev families are among thousands of North Macedonian families who paid significant sums to preserve this biological material that can only be collected during the short period surrounding childbirth.
They are among the few that have ever tried to check what was happening with the frozen material; as long as their child is healthy, most parents usually stop thinking about it.
This was also confirmed by a BIRN online questionnaire answered by 42 parents. None of them had inquired about the status of the preserved material in the years since it had been collected.
Although some of the contracts reviewed by BIRN stated that companies would regularly inform parents, such communication hardly ever took place, the parents complained.
Regulation and responsibility gap
In 2025, according to North Macedonia’s state Agency for Medicines and Medical Devices, MALMED, five companies in North Macedonia were offering such services. However, Euromedics was not among them.
When BIRN requested a full list of companies involved in this business over the past 20 years, MALMED replied that it had no electronic records covering that period.
According to last year’s list, only one of the companies was registered as a direct representative office of a foreign cryobank. The others were intermediary firms, which means that if problems arise, legal action would likely need to be pursued abroad.
North Macedonia does not have its own cryobank. The only issue authorities regulate is the import of collection kits and the export permits required to send cells abroad, the Ministry of Health confirmed.
The ministry has distanced itself from responsibility, arguing that it only supervises the healthcare aspect related to the collection and transport of the cells.
Everything else, officials told BIRN, is a contractual relationship between parents, intermediary companies, and foreign banks.
This area is not fully covered by the country’s Law on the Removal and Transplantation of Human Body Parts for Treatment, which regulates tissues and organs but also applies to hematopoietic stem cells collected after childbirth.
According to MALMED, almost 600 sets containing umbilical cord biological material were exported last year.
Health Ministry officials also note that problems may arise when attempting to return the cells to the country, since special import permits are required. According to the ministry, such permits cannot be obtained by the parent who paid for storage but only by an authorised company.
Few known medical benefits