Tirana, 7 April 2008. The Ministry of Public Health has prepared a draft law to replace the existing “Law on Medical Care” enacted some 45 years ago. Article 27 of the draft establishes a number of restrictions on the activities of private health care institutions. According to the draft, certain services should be provided only by state hospitals or institutions. No private medical institution will be licensed to provide specified medical services or treatments.
The first restriction relates to artificial insemination. According to the draft, private health care institutions are not entitled to provide artificial insemination if the donor is unknown to the unfertile couple. The rationale, according to the Ministry of Public Health, is that donors should be registered by a state institution in case the child, later in his life, needs certain medical help such as a bone marrow, blood, or organ transplant.
Second, only state medical institutions are allowed to establish the fatherhood of a child. A private institution would be entitled to conduct DNA tests to establish or exclude fatherhood upon the request of a father in question. According to the Ministry of Public Health, only state hospitals are equipped, and offer, the necessary quality assurance to perform such tests.
Third, the draft prohibits private health institutions from buying or selling, handling, storing or transporting human tissues or organs. The Albanian Ministry of Public Health maintains that Albanian private health institutions are not capable of conducting human tissue or organ transplants. However, private medical institutions are allowed to perform autotransplantation (transplants of tissue from one site to another in the same individual).
Fourth, private health institutions are not allowed to establish blood banks or act as such, including buying, selling, storing blood, plasma, or blood products for the purpose of selling or providing it to others.
Penalties for breaching the law
The new draft introduces harsh penalties for failing to observe the law, providing the wrongdoing does not constitute a crime punishable by the Penal Law. According to the Draft, the Public Health Inspectorate can impose fines on employees of public and private health institutions up to ten times the minimum wage, which is currently Lek 16,000 per month. The procedure for investigating wrongdoings, imposing fines, appealing, and other concerns are to be outlined in the law on the Public Health Inspectorate.
