TIRANA, Nov. 14 – More than 300,000 patients suffering chronic illnesses reside in Albania, and many of them do not receive proper treatment or reimbursement for the medications they need.
That’s why the associations of chronic patients in Albania came together and created a network aiming to increase pressure towards the authorities and request dignified treatment towards patients.
Seven independent associations united for the cause, while the number of chronic patients represents more than 1/10th of people in the country, the Voice of America reported.
More than pressuring the authorities, this network will also serve each association’s aspirations to cooperate and coordinate its efforts with others, thus maximizing the effect of their reach and policies.
“Patients’ conditions in Albania are to be pitied, as we have noticed that not just the diabetic patients I represent, but also others with various chronic illnesses, face difficulties with reimbursements and medicament’s situation,” a Diabetes Association representative said. “And this is a problem that has united us, to make the patients’ voices heard and to request the cooperation of the government in order to enable a better healthcare system for the Albanian population.”
While Tirana’s capacity and healthcare implementation is to be criticized, the situation is even worse for patients residing in smaller cities where, because of the lack of necessary routine check-ups, some patients have even passed away.
“Among the other steps undertaken by the Network of Patients with Chronic Illnesses are related to the complaint mechanisms. It is the establishing of an efficient and functioning structure, in the sense that patients’ rights and discontents in the way healthcare is offered to them to be addressed where they should, and simultaneously, programs that will better these places to be drafted,” another network representative said.
The number of denouncements concerning this particular issue is on the rise, the Commissioner for Protection against Discrimination, Irma Baraku, reports.
As part of the cooperation with the associations, this number of denouncements is expected to rise higher. She added that her institution tries to closely cooperate with Civil Society Organizations that focus on discrimination and acknowledged that the chronic patients’ situation is already part of the Commissioner’s work in development.
“In order to evaluate a situation, our institution starts with trustworthy information that a situation is discriminating,” Baraku said. “In this case, information received by SCOs and the media constitutes trustworthy information.”
The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation is financing a project called ‘Healthcare for everyone’, which also supports the Network of Patients with Chronic Illnesses. Network members also asked for higher transparency and a dignified treatment towards patients, more research in order to provide factual and concrete health-care statistics and coordination of the projects being implemented in the field of health-care.
