TIRANA, Oct. 26 – A recent government decision to expand a medical checkup program that operates with public funding through a 10-year concession to a private company has drawn the ire of the political opposition, which has called it “a corrupt affair.”
The opposition and some independent experts say the private-public partnership program has proven to be a failure since it was awarded last year as a concession to offer medical checkups to residents 40 to 65 years old. The recent decision expands the availability of free medical checkups to legal residents aged 35 to 70 years old.
The concessionaire pledged to offer free health checkups to 475,000 residents from 40-65 years old. One year later, the private partner figures show it has failed to meet the target as not enough people showed up to do the health screenings at the laboratories established by the private company. Instead of revoking the contract and admitting failure, the government decided to extend the pool of beneficiaries to citizens from 35-70 years old.
The opposition had earlier criticized the choice of one of the companies awarded the contract, saying it had not experience in medical public private partnerships. The consortium includes Marketing and Distribution, an old Albanian company that primarily deals in importing and distributing tobacco, alcohol, cleaning products and food.
The Democratic Party accused Prime Minister Rama of increasing the age target of the program “merely to give more money to Vilma Nushi, the owner of Marketing and Distribution.”
Nushi, a successful business owner and among the top 10 wealthiest people in the country, is seen by the opposition as a Rama supporter and donor.
“The Democratic Party is asking Edi Rama’s friend to withdraw from this abusive contract and to give the money back to the Albanian people,” said Democratic Party lawmaker Albana Vokshi, speaking at a press conference earlier this year. “The Democratic Party will cancel this theft, this scandalous abuse with the money and health of the Albanians.”
According to the preliminary contract, Marketing and Distribution, which had no experience in the medical field, working with another company, Trimed, would manage the program of health check up services, free for legal residents, to over 475,000 over-40 people in Albania.
However, the Ministry of Health said it blamed the opposition of launching a negative propaganda against the free check up program which led to a “small number of citizens that have used the services regardless of the capacity of 475,000 tests each year which is supported financially by the Public Private Partnership.”
According to the ministry, the expansion of the program to citizens from 35-70 years old will not cost more than the initial €120 million fund approved for the 10-year contract
The opposition notes the costly concessionaire contract has failed to provide this necessary service to citizens. Furthermore, Democrats say the government is determined to cover its failure by including more people in the annual target group.
Several months ago, a television show, Unexposed on Ora News, revealed how a very healthy citizen did some tests at the laboratories offered by Marketing and Distribution and Trimed and the results revealed that she was really sick. Other media outlets revealed examples of how entire villages signed fake documents claiming that they had all benefited from the services.
Experts argue the government should have revised the contract with Marketing and Distribution/Trimed and reduced the €120 million fund, instead of offering the program to another 350,000 citizens.
Furthermore, the government has been criticized for not conducting a serious study on the exact number of citizens that need free health check ups before approving the contract, but ignoring all signs and blindly giving away €120 million from the taxpayers.
The opposition says it was the government’s way of rewarding donors of the Socialist Party during the electoral campaign.
