Two months ago, on one of the coldest days of the year, I met Laura and Dashi. They are a couple that complement each other even when you see them moving, Laura is 36 years old and Dashi 49. They were holding a medical file with analyses and diagnoses in Italian and Albanian. Dashi, also known as Dashamir, is a father of three, and is ill. Let me start from the beginning.
A year ago, Dashi had been feeling sick for a long time and the first thing that came to mind was a check-up. He got checked not only once but twice. His spouse Laura had to pay a doctor to get the results, but she didn’t give up: Dashi got worse every day!
The results from the first check-up were great. However, in the medical results of the second check-up, he was diagnosed with a simple Hepatitis C. And in order to identify the precise type a further analysis had to be done at a private institution, at a cost of €450…
You should know Laura! She is a strong-willed woman.
She finds out the best doctor in Bologna through the Internet and makes an appointment with him. They live in a house of six, including Dashi’s mother, only with a monthly wage of 22,000 lekë from her husband’s work as a driver. She borrows money and leaves for Bologna.
She is shaking while she tells me her story; how the doctor received her, how her immigrant friends helped her pay for the medical visit, and how it all went…
While they were waiting for the doctor to prescribe the cure for Hepatitis C, the results from the diagnosis confirm that Dashi had cirrhosis of third degree! And what’s more, the cirrhosis was clear from the results of the first check-up as well!
– What now?, Laura asked.
– He needs a transplant of the liver m’am, as soon as possible, it is the only way.
– Let’s do it, can we do it tomorrow?
The doctor smiled for the first time. He was the same stern doctor who worked in a private hospital and made the analysis possibly for free, an analysis that normally cost hundreds of euros.
He starts explaining to Laura that liver transplant costs… €150,000. The cost of the transplant isn’t the only problem but also the ability of the body to accept this new liver.
Their world turned upside down!
They can barely make ends meet with Dashi’s income and are deep in debt to cover the recent expenses.
What now? First Laura tries it out with the state. Both her husband and she have voted for free health care! But the thing is that free health care starts and finishes with the check-up! Liver transplants are not part of it! Poor Kristi is “the best” example! During a dinner where Minister Beqaj is invited on TV, Laura asks him what does the state do for liver transplant. The answer leaves her speechless:
Our country has an agreement with Turkey for transplants but to enter the waiting list the patient must have Turkish residency.
What?! This is too much!
Laura and Dashi feel rejected and crushed. The only help available is Italy where there is a possibility of help from people that will save them from begging. All they need is a document from the Albanian government stating that the Ministry of Health in Albania doesn’t cover liver transplant.
Laura and Dashi are in the clouds!
But they cannot even start to imagine that difficulties would be coming from those that do not cover expenses. They write to the Ministry of Health, the Prime Minister… but no response! It is unbelievable! Since the state does not have any politicies about this transplant, no concrete agreements with other countries exist. And there is no help in the administrative bureaucracy; they don’t even give out a simple document that would facilitate the patient’s process in seeking help!
If this simple document were released, the state’s mask of free health care would fall off. But it would save the life of a father of three.
I phoned Laura a few days ago. She didn’t answer. I am scared to write to her; I am scared that my message would find her a widow!
