The Health System Continues to Face Numerous Problems

Despite renovations and investments in equipment at CKUK and some general hospitals in the country, more work needs to be done for patients to receive quality services.

The chairman of the Association of Patients' Rights in Kosovo, Besim Kodra, says of Kosova Preris, that patients in the country continue to face lack of medicines, services or equipment.

He says patients are facing long waiting lists for treatment, while stressing that without a change in the form of health financing, they do not expect things to change.

“Patients are still facing problems which reflect the lack of medicine, services or equipment, we still have patients who wander portals seeking help with any treatment abroad. Funds for out-of-country treatment at the Health Insurance Fund have been borrowed due to initial demand, there have been some positive moves in terms of the SSKUK, investing mainly in infrastructure in services, but big problems still remain with regard to long lists of patient's unconventional treatment, and the Health Insurance Fund, which allegedly will change the situation in Kosovo is still failing to be implemented and without changing the form of health financing we do not expect things to change. Seeing that the Health Insurance Fund is still far away, and for a time we think we will have such an inappropriate state of health for the patient”, he says.

Despite investments made in several QKUK clinics, where investment in the device has been made in space renovations, Kodra says it still remains far from the desirable standard.

“has influenced because the lists have been harmonised, at least there is a system, there are certain ambulances that have created a kind of patient treatment system, but we still stay away from the desirable standard. Also, investments have been mostly focused on KKUK, while other regional hospitals remain far apart. This even worse when we talk about primary health care that hasn't taken any changes since last year, there's no investment at all, there's still no list of patients, the primary health care fund, where it claims that 80 per cent of health care should be taken at these centers, there's no investments in the hospital, the patient's only door is left if even there's no door to go abroad”, says Kodra.

That patients continue to face lack of medicines and redeeming materials and the chairman of the Federation of Health Union, Blerim Syla, who however, says this situation has begun to improve.

The eye of health workers, in 2019, calls it a disappointment with the social welfare of health workers. He says suspending the wage law is the worst news they have received, as according to his law, health workers would have dignified salaries.

“There have been several events that have been described this year, as you know this year has started once with protests, with strikes in the law of wages, the law of wages has been finalised, but disappointment has now occurred, and in terms of social well-being has been a bad year for health workers, we have not enjoyed an increase of social prosperity, we have hoped and worked. So, as far as this is concerned, we're pretty disappointed there's a year I hope it never comes back. As for other health developments, the church divided into two stages, the first stage is interventions that were made in several departments where the ministry's claim was to increase services, here the minister has managed to do a job in Cardiology, Cardiology, Oncology, and some other services, we can say that we have achieved some successes, which are not to be overlooked, but are to be applauded. What he described is the problem with the supply of drugs and savers, which has not been stable, we know that because of tenders, but it hasn't been, in recent times it has stabilised, and that I think is an achievement in 2019”, he says.

The other problem, Syla sees the lack of legal infrastructure, which mentions that they have been aiming to meet changes in health law and the law on health insurance, but have failed.

As for investments made in several QKUK clinics, Syla says health workers have been enabled to provide better quality services, but according to him, patients are the biggest beneficiaries.

“Definable health workers have been relieved, but not only to health workers, that is that a family budget is saved, and I believe that now in certain clinics where our patients have received services and are getting them is a great relief to their family economy, that we should take them to the station or to the equipment care in Oncology or even other departments in general. These government interventions, or better said interventions that were necessary, because we worked as in the 19th century, have facilitated the work of health workers, but mostly there are patients”, he says.

On the other hand, Kosovo University Clinical Hospital Service General Director Basri Sejdiu says 2019 for this institution and the health system in the country has been a year of success, where he says numerous investments have been made in many clinics with the sole aim of providing quality services for patients.

Two important projects, such as treating acute heart attacks in the first two hours and strock center or treating a brain attack, have been implemented during the next year, he says.

When I talk about supply equipment, then we can say that there's really a clinic that has never had these equipment and supply with these devices has enabled these clinics to advance with more professional, quality and modern services. As a concrete example, I'm taking the Gastroenterology Clinic, which for years hasn't had gastroscopes and coloscopes, and in the absence of these devices patients are constantly referred to elsewhere in private and now there are four coloscopes of coloscope, all tests are conducted at the Gastroenterology Clinic. Pulmology clinic didn't have a broncoscope, but there are also different ultrasounds. Surgery clinics have had an outdated, old labascope, and now have about four new laboscope scattered in surgical halls. Urology's clinic is equipped with devices that were never available. Gynecology's clinic has enabled the purchase of the new labascope to remove the uterus without surgery”, he points.

Sejdiu says all investments he made have influenced citizens to return to Kosovo health and local doctors.

Sejdiu: This number also speaks of restoring patient confidence to local doctors

I think it's a beautiful visible movement, and it's seen in patients every day, you see they're happy because they take services in their country, they take them in the most professional way. When we count it, for example, professional ambulances somewhere that they had 200 patients a day before, it's now 1,000. When I count invasive cardiology from last year, two thousand 500 this year, three thousand and 500, and one year ago it was about a thousand. All of this is about the most volume work being done, thanks to new equipment, staff mobilization, but what's most important is the return of patients to local doctors, the local staff, which you're taking every day for this service, and I think that's a better way because treating patients in their country creates less costs, is close to home, but is also about our institutions&bs; and for our doctors who offer these services is welcome because with the most volume increases in their performance, says Sejdiu.

The head of KSKUK says that during 2019, there has never been a lack of drugs on the essential list, and in his view, the digitalization of pharmaceutical service has affected them.

He says that during the following year, we have invested in general regional hospitals, with the sole purpose of granting citizens quality services until 2020, he has promised that they will continue to advance all services, complete projects that have already started and set up new services.