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Albania has the lowest number of doctors and nurses per capita in
Europe, data from 2020 shows. In 2019, 18% of qualified medical
staff worked abroad, of which 765 Albanian doctors were working in
Germany – a 21% increase from the year before. More are believed
to have left since then as the number of emigrants from Albania
stood at 42,000 in 2021.
This shortage was felt acutely during the COVID-19 pandemic, with
hospital capabilities stretched to breaking point.
The World Health Organisation has also noted that Albania has one
of the lowest rates of doctors-to-patients globally.
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11/2/22, 12:17 AM Albanian healthcare workers flee en masse, government unfazed
Since 2018, there are 309 more doctors in the system and over 600
doctors and 2,400 nurses have been employed, she added.
Rama denied this was true and told the student to get medicated. He
then said that doctors and nurses were not leaving the country en
masse.
They also requested information from the health ministry, but they
did not respond. A complaint was filed with the Commissioner for
Information, but the ministry still did not respond. The
commissioner then called a meeting between Faktoje and the
ministry, and the day before it was scheduled to take place, the
ministry responded by providing the number of hospitals in the
country, not the number of staff.
The lack of doctors and nurses in the Albanian system was also
highlighted in an OSCE report in 2021. “Albania has 12 doctors per
10,000 inhabitants, which represents the lowest number in
Europe…A number of sources report significant shortages of human
resources in hospitals, especially in rural areas, due to the migration
of general practitioners and specialists,” the report reads.
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11/2/22, 12:17 AM Albanian healthcare workers flee en masse, government unfazed
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