After two weeks of operation, the Ministry of Health has shut down the new Real Time PRC coronavirus testing laboratory.
According to Reporter, the decision to close the lab was taken at the behest of the concessionary company whose 10-year contract grants it management of all Albanian public test labs.
The contract is worth €95 million.
73 medical personnel from the Nene Tereza University Hospital Center (QSUT) that were only recently trained to carry out coronavirus testing will now be dismissed, to be replaced by staff hired by the concessionary company.
An announcement hung in one of the laboratory walls states that dismissals will be announced before the end of August.
The concessionary contract with the three-company consortium (Labopharma sh.p.k 41.7%, Exalab France 25%, and AB Laboratory Solution BV 33%) was signed by deputy Prime Minister Erion Brace, in the stead of Prime Minister Edi Rama, on April 24 2019.
The High State Audit (KLSh) found the Ministry’s feasibility study for concessionary contract to be lacking, due to personnel costs it deemed excessive.
