TIRANA, Nov 6 /ATA/ – Main opposition Democratic Party (DP) lawmaker Bardh Spahia on Thursday said Albania’s main Oncology Hospital in Tirana was in a state of collapse and called for increased government funding for medicines and medical equipment.
MP Spahia, who chairs Parliament’s Health and Social Welfare Committee, accused the Socialist government of neglecting the Oncology Hospital at Tirana’s University Hospital Centre (QSUT). He claimed the situation had worsened steadily over the past 12 years.
Citing a report by the State Supreme Audit Institution, Spahia said nearly half of the authorized anticancer drugs had never been imported and many hospital pharmacies still listed expired medicines as active.
“The report presents a bleak picture of the oncology service, where essential and therapeutic medicines and medical devices are missing,” Spahia told Parliament’s plenary session. He described the findings as evidence of “criminal incompetence and corruption”.
He added that inspection authorities had failed to carry out checks for three years and that penalties for suppliers who delayed deliveries had not been enforced.
Spahia accused the government of systematically underfunding oncology drugs while increasing spending on public-private concession contracts. “Instead of investing in medicines, equipment and hospital conditions, the government has preferred propaganda,” he said.
The opposition MP called for a parliamentary inquiry into the implementation of the audit’s recommendations and for legal guarantees ensuring uninterrupted supply of essential medicines.
Parliament’s Socialist majority voted down the opposition’s request for a debate with Health Minister Evis Sala.
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