"We have always reported the problems of the health system, but we have also asked for a deeper analysis, which we are presenting today, for 8 services of QSUT and 8 regional hospitals. "This is the first step in giving some answers to the health system." This is what Eglantina Bardhi said in her greeting speech, during the activity that the "Together for life" NGO has conducted today.
"Together for Life" presented two Evaluation Reports on the Health System "Planning and management of hospital budgets to meet the needs of patients for appropriate treatment" and "Report on the Procurement of drugs for hospital use".
Evaluation reports come as a need to assess and address the problems associated with hospital budgeting issues and procurement issues of medicines for hospital use.
The budget in the health sector for regional hospitals is allocated by the Ministry of Health based on requests addressed to this institution by regional / central hospitals. It is noted that the Ministry of Health have these requirements, even worse, causing significant shortages of treatment at the expense of patients.
The shortcomings and shortcomings of the Albanian health system in providing a guaranteed and quality service, prevent patients, especially those with chronic diseases, from having the necessary access to the health system.
The first report on "On the procurement of drugs for hospital use" was presented by the procurement specialist, Valbona Dhrami. In her report, Dhrami presented an analysis of the procurement of drugs in the public health sector, the planning of funds, the manner of procurement, the development of procurement procedures, the role of hospital institutions.
At the end of the report were identified problems and suggestions / recommendations for improving the planning of funds and ways of procurement of drugs, in order to increase the effectiveness and efficiency in the use of budget funds in the health system, and better meet the needs of patients.
Immediately after the presentation of Dhrami, the floor according to the agenda was given by the expert Flora Hobdari, who presented the report on "Planning and management of hospital budgets, to meet the needs of patients for appropriate treatment." This report presented data and facts on the path followed by hospital health institutions for planning and managing the budget in general and the budget for medicines in particular, as well as a comparative analysis of the budget situation of some of the regional hospitals and health services at QSUT. At the end of the report, Hobdari also issued suggestions and recommended solutions through the analysis of how to well manage the budget allocated for hospitals, to meet the emergency needs of patients for better treatment and health care.
The activity continued with the speech of Professor Gazment Koduzi, who presented the topic "Alternative perspective of studies on financing and procurement of drugs in the Albanian hospital service".
"I think the main point for increasing the quality of the health system is definitely increasing the budget. Meanwhile, I want to emphasize that there can be no functioning of the health system if the money does not follow the patient, which means that every fund allocated must go to the service of the patient and in the best possible way ", said Koduzi
"Another function is to purchase services. "To buy services means to be able to choose, and in Albania we still do not have to buy services, except in the reimbursement of medicines, where the patient can only choose which pharmacy to go to get the medicines", he said .
"In Shkodra, for example, FSDKSH (Health Care Insurance Fund) enters into a contract with the Regional Hospital of Shkodra, because it is the only hospital, while in Tirana, which has a choice or other private hospitals, does not do this job. So, in Albania we are talking about financing, not purchases and the level of the fund then is the provision of services related to the procurement of goods and budgeting "continued Koduzi in his speech.
Koduzi also articulated a series of recommendations and suggestions, derived from his study.
After the presentation of the three authors of the reports, the floor was given to the economic expert, Zef Preçi, who welcomed the activity.
Among other things, Preçi said that "I think that a number of issues related to the management of hospitals and the planning of medication needs can be resolved by moving away from that historical experience. If there was better management of our hospitals, of course under the direction of the Ministry of Health the morbidity would be analyzed and multi-year treatments could become prognosis for 2-3 or more years.
"Nowadays, there is no reason not to document the medications that are performed by analyzing the morbidity, the trend that is and on this basis, the needs for medications can be met. I think that there should be a plan for a security reserve, because under normal conditions, the alarms given by the press are that basic medicines are also missing.
"It would also be good to review the cost and efficiency, as spending accounts for a large part of the country's GDP. "I see with concern that the performance of hospitals compared to the cost is far away," said the expert.
The activity was also greeted by dr. Agim Shehu, who presented some points of what will change in the financing of hospitals.
On the other hand, the president of the Order of the Doctor of Albania, Fatmir Brahimi asked for the floor, as he said that the change of technical managers may have had a negative impact on the drafting of weak budgets.
"Unfortunately, in our country, when the minister changes, the director changes together with all the hospital staff. This is a reason that leads us to bad and poor management, which is necessarily reflected directly in services.
"So the first thing I would suggest is better cooperation and timely discussion of next year's budget. From what I represent, I would say that the budget should ensure compliance with professional standards. We often hear doctors say that they have done careless medication. We have to design; guidelines and protocols. Another problem I notice is the quota of the guard doctor, which is only 200 ALL. This story leads us to absurdities ", said Brahimaj.
This activity took place within the project "Increasing the quality of health care through strengthening patient associations and advocacy to increase the budget in health", supported by the Foundation "Open Society for Albania" ./ Shendeti.com.al
