Salija Ljatif-Petrushovska: Life of Care
From a Scholarship to a Calling
At twenty-eight years old, Salija Ljatif-Petrushovska was working as a dental assistant at a primary health center in northern Macedonia when opportunity—and controversy—struck. “The non-Roma were not used to seeing a Romani doctor, a female, a dentist, and so they started preparing a petition to the Ministry of Health not to accept my mandate—before even meeting me.” The media started spreading disinformation about her, questioning her age and experience.
Over the next four years, Ljatif-Petrushovska proved for herself, earned the staff’s trust and transformed the institute into a specialized hospital for geriatric and palliative care. When a political party from the right came to power, they ended her mandate, and she returned to her old position in primary care, working as a dentist for children from 0 to 14.
Ljatif-Petrushovska’s path to dentistry began in an unlikely place—Šuto Orizari, a conservative Roma neighborhood on the outskirts of Skopje. She describes it as beautiful. Growing up there she felt safe and supported, protected from the discrimination her parents spoke about. “I couldn’t recognize stereotypes until I started mixing more with non-Roma,” she says. “Then I realized they saw me differently.”
Ljatif-Petrushovska’s grandmother had spent 30 years cleaning at a public health institution, and the family revered medicine as a route to dignity. She listened and, after four years in medical high school, Ljatif-Petrushovska entered Skopje’s dentistry faculty for a demanding six-year course with a scholarship from the Roma Education Fund for Roma medical students.
Receiving this scholarship was more than just a path to a career. “We learned advocacy, community work, and even how to speak to the media,” she recalls, “to show that Roma can be part of society.”
“We learned advocacy, community work, and even how to speak to the media—to show that Roma can be part of society.”
— Salija Ljatif-Petrushovska
Today, at 36, she teaches oral hygiene in schools and kindergartens across Skopje, treating Roma, Macedonian, and Albanian children alike. She also holds a master’s degree in public health, focusing on obesity among Roma women in their reproductive years in Suto Orizari. She is also working on a proposal for the Ministry of Health in Macedonia to launch a Romani Health Program centered on prevention and education.
“Many don’t go to the doctor for regular checkups even when they have symptoms. It’s partly cultural but also because they feel discrimination. So, I speak loudly. It’s tiring, yes. But I want to help the Roma community, especially because they still face barriers.”