A recent report has detailed how thousands of health workers have led to Germany in 2020, while Prime Minister Edi Rama has dismissed concerns of the loss of skilled workers in key sectors.
The European Training Foundation published a report last week detailing the mass exodus of skilled workers, including a high number of young people.
The situation is particularly concerning for doctors and nurses and also includes psychotherapists, dentists, and pharmacists, all of which are in demand in Albania.
Data from 2020 shows that Albania has the lowest number of doctors and nurses per capita in Europe. Furthermore, 18% of qualified medical staff work abroad and there are 765 Albanian doctors working in Germany as of 2019, a 21% increase on the year before.
According to data from the Germany Embassy, between 2013 and 2017, 762 doctors and 2064 nurses left the country.
This shortage was felt acutely during the COVID-19 pandemic with hospital capabilities stretched to breaking point.
The WHO had also noted that Albania has one of the lowest rates of doctors-to-patients globally. Health Minister Ogerta Manastirliu blamed this on the Democratic Party, stating that for four years, after 2013 (when the Socialist Party took power), the country could not produce specialist doctors. She said that since 2018, there are 309 more doctors in the system and that over 600 doctors and 2400 nurses have been employed.
Rama said that during 2018-2019, 400 new doctors were hired and 2200 nurses. He said there were 1500 nurses on the waiting list for work.
In February 2022, a medical student challenged Rama during his speech at a graduation ceremony, asking him whether he was aware of the fact that. the only people graduating were the only ones who could afford the high fees of public education.
Rama denied this was true and told the student to get medicated. He then said that doctors and nurses were not leaving the country en masse.
Faktoje asked the country’s Doctor’s order how the number of doctors in the country has changed between 2014 and 2022. The institution responded that they do not have data for 2014 and 2015 while data for more recent years is “being processed.”
They also requested information from the Ministry of Health, but they did not respond. A complaint was filed with the Commissioner for Information, but the ministry still did not respond. The commissioner then called a meeting between Faktoje and the ministry and the day before it was scheduled to take place, the ministry responded by providing the number of hospitals in the country, not the number of staff.
Meanwhile, a report by Together for Life in 2021 detailed the shortage of medical staff in the country.
“Regarding the availability of human resources in the health sector of Albania, the main concern is the lack of doctors, including general practitioners / family doctors and specialists. Currently, there is a gap of about 330 general practitioners and 250 specialist doctors ,” the report reads.
Also, an OSCE report in 2021 highlights the lack of doctors and nurses in the Albanian health system
“Albania has 12 doctors per 10,000 inhabitants, which represents the lowest number in Europe…A number of sources report significant shortages of human resources in hospitals, especially in rural areas, due to the migration of general practitioners and specialists .”
You can read a Dutch citizen’s experience of being treated in a state hospital here.
Open Letter to the Prime Minister of the Republic of Albania
