Yesterday, representatives from public institutions, MPs, independent institutions, professionals and experts in the field of health, civil society organizations and the media gathered together in a roundtable discussion, during which Together for Life presented the report on the topic "The Insurance Fund of Compulsory Health Care – Does the scheme cover real health care needs”, supported by NED – National Endowment for Democracy.
The key findings of the report shed light on problematic issues related to poor planning, revenue volatility and lack of transparency of the Mandatory Health Care Fund, pointing to a gap in achieving universal coverage of health needs for all categories of the population and emphasizing the need to improve efficiency in the use of funds.
In her speech, the Executive Director - Mrs. Eglantina Bardhi emphasized that the health sector continues to remain problematic in terms of insufficient funding and it is important for recommendations to receive attention and be addressed by relevant institutions.
The representative from the Network of Coordinators against Anticorruption, Mr. Fatjon Cajupi, in his speech, joined the joint mission of guaranteeing transparent practices and promoting accountability through the presentation of recommendations to the institutions, as well as emphasized the preventive and awareness measures on the consequences of corruption/irregularities. Some of the reforms undertaken in health care institutions that aim to control and guarantee a quality service as close as possible to the patient, such as the strengthening of the structures of the Operator of Health Service and ASCK, were mentioned by the representative of MHCF (FSDKSH), Mrs. Marsida Mulaj – Director of PHC. On the other hand, the presence of the Chief Auditor from High State Audit - Mrs. Selime Bregu, emphasized the importance of financial control and pointed out the alarming problems identified by the concessional contracts in the health sector, the non-renewal of the list of medicines, which testify to a failure of the "Health for all" concept.
The Chairwoman Mrs. Zheni Gjergji and Deputy Mr. Petrit Vasili from the Committee for Labour, Social Affairs and Health in the Parliament of Albania, presented the ongoing problems related to the low budget for health care, emphasizing the budget misplanning and the ambiguities related to the new hospital autonomy law. They also focused on possible legislative initiatives to improve the system. The participation of the Commissioner for the Right to Information and Protection of Personal Data through Mrs. Emerlinda Pema – Director of Transparency Monitoring, underlined the importance of going beyond legal obligations to ensure proactive transparency.
Also present at the table were Mr. Vasil Seko from the State Social Service; Ms. Valbona Bara, Performance Sector Specialist at ASCK; Ms. Entela Bajramaj Journalist at Top Channel; Ms. Aleksandra Bogani Journalists at BIRN Albania, CSO’s and health professionals, who presented their speech and joined the interactive discussion to share recommendations.
Such roundtables serve as an important platform for constructive discussions and the formulation of impactful strategies for the advancement of the health care system. The discussion generated proposals on the overall reform of the financing scheme of public hospitals based on the budgeting model based on performance and service quality.
To read the full report, please click on the link: Raport_A-mbulon-Skema-nevojat-reale-per-kujdes-shendetesor.pdf (togetherforlife.org.al)
