After touring the Tirana University Hospital Centre, Prime Minister Edi Rama visited this evening the ER of the University Hospital “Shefqet Ndroqi”, where he met with the medical staff serving the night shift. The Prime Minister thanked them for the transformation of the hospital that has turned into a model of public service thanks not only to the investments made in these years, but also to the commitment of the medical staff.
Nurses were the first who took the opportunity of this meeting and expressed their satisfaction for the wage growth. “I’ve been working here for 40 years, but I have never received such a wage increase”, one of them said.
“Everybody has understood that in addition to the conditions, patients need also a smile. The wage increase has made the service most useful and productive”, the director of the hospital said.
“The staff in charge of guaranteeing the hygiene and proper working conditions received a miserable wage. The wage of nurses has increased by 36%. The government is judged for what it does, not for what it avoids. In 2013 we avoided to have the wages lowered, as the financial situation was very serious. Our battle with the IMF in October-November back than when we requested its assistance as the hidden debt was huge – 40 million dollars for medicines and other unpaid services for hospitals, while companies didn’t provide medicines – was that the IMF said that we needed to lower wages and pensions because we couldn’t afford them. We said we will do the reform in energy, because energy would take 150 million dollars per year from taxes to fill in the hole in the budget. We fought hard and managed not to lower wages.”
On-call doctors appreciated the fact that this is the first time their wage has been increased. “This is the first time that the wage of on-call doctors has been increased”, one of them said. The challenge, the Prime Minister noted, is the right motivation for specialist doctors to go and work in hospitals outside Tirana.
“Wages have been increased for on-call doctors and for doctors who go to other hospitals for consultations. They receive 50 thousand ALL for each day they spent in another hospital to help. But we need to increase wages for doctors who go and work there. The challenge is to give doctors who accept to go and work, for instance in Këlcyrë, Përmet, Gjirokastër, the same wage as a specialist, the same they would receive if they worked in a public hospital abroad.”
Doctors agreed that improving conditions and financial treatment of medical personnel has resulted in a significant improvement of service to patients. “The change is felt and reflected both by doctors and patients”, one doctor said. New equipment is being installed in the hospital “Shefqet Ndroqi”.
The replacement of old instruments, especially of those of the operating rooms, is another serious issue that has been resolved. The Prime Minister noted that “there were catastrophic consequences for patients, only because tools of the operating rooms were out of any standard. The problem was that we had to find a public-private partnership in order to have the maximum quality possible. They’re very happy in the TUHC, as it is a completely different world. The equipment is fantastic, of the highest standards. It’s a very good scheme which we couldn’t have with the state budget, and not just in terms of the money, but the entire management process carried out together with the company is also fantastic. The lab staff and all those who will manage this will be trained when the partnership with the private is over. The only conditions is that they must renew the whole equipment two years before they complete it. Actually, there’s a tremendous difference in the operating rooms of the TUHC today.”
A young doctor who is specializing at this hospital said that she was surprised when she learned she had won the competition to specialize. “I didn’t think I would win. I made only one choice, as I thought I wasn’t going to win because I considered the competition rigged. But everything was done electronically. Everything was published online. This is the best thing ever done.”
The Prime Minister said he is convinced that it is merit that has brought every young student to the auditorium. “If you look today at university auditoriums, you’ll see that those who are in don’t have scored less than those who are outside. This shows that those who are in have the greatest merit”, the Prime Minister said.
At the end of the conversation, the Prime Minister assured of the commitment to the health sector, in order to transform it into a dignified public service that can compete even with the private sector. “I know very well that it is a work that requires sacrifice and a lot of dedication, although there are here some people who embarrass you as professionals and sully your uniform, as they keep on with the culture of bribery. But where work has been done, there really is a huge difference. And seriously it is equally to private sector, and can even compete with it.”
