Three years since the government of Albania launched a preventive check-up programme, aimed at improving the population’s access to preventive services offered by primary health care, the visits to these centres have increased significantly. The check-up programme is provided for free to all individuals aged 35–70 years. Prime Minister Edi Rama underwent the primary health check-up at the Polyclinics No 9 in the capital city. As the health care centre’s doctor said undergoing the preventive check-up has helped a significant number of citizens to detect and prevent acute illnesses that can easily be detected only by performing basic medical check-up once a year.
“It is the third year since the launch of the programme and the number of citizens coming without notice has kept increasing. I personally have recorded cases when patients have undergone random health check-up and have been diagnosed with diabetes with extremely high blood sugar levels and insulin treatment has started immediately afterwards. Everyone knows the serious diabetes complications,” she said.
Underlining that performing regular health check-ups help in preventing serious health conditions, Prime Minister Rama emphasized that more should be done in raising awareness and changing the people’s attitude to the importance of periodic health check-ups. “The number of visits is positive, but we should encourage people since a culture of regular health check-up is yet to be created. Undergoing health check-up is compulsory in the European institutions, the Council of Europe and the European Union. If you fail to perform health check-up, then you won’t be hired or the employment contract won’t be renewed. This is a programme to help people and it is provided for free and it is the state that pays for everyone,” PM Rama said in his remarks.
A Ministry of Health’s analysis of the programme to date shows that 40% of the individuals who have undergone the health check-up have detected a health problem. “19% of people who have undergone primary check-up are patients at high risk, 34% of them are patients at moderate risk, which means that over 40% of individuals who have undergone check-up have detected a health condition and further examinations and follow-up tests have been carried out by the respective specialist physicians to determine whether it is the case of a chronic illness or a disease that can be acute and treated,” Minister of Health and Social Protection Ogerta Manastirliu said.
The Ministry of Health, in collaboration with the family doctors, have compiled a Reminder Letter that will be sent to every citizen once a year as an invitation to undergo the annual health check-up. “We have thought for the invitation to undergo the check-up to coincide with the birth month of each citizen. Meanwhile the reminder letter contains also a description of the benefits from the preventive check-up as well as the contact number of each health care centre, including the date and time when the citizen should visit the primary health care centre. On the other hand, a vaccination programme is also operational, which a preventive programme too, with the family doctor, together with primary health care nurses – there are 385 primary health care centres meeting the standards we see here today – will patronize the citizens who should undergo the health check-up once a year.”
Although the people’s attitude and awareness has changed regarding the primary health check-up, the process still needs to advance. The Premier said the process helps in creating a register of the population’s health situation. “Year after year, the process has started to become a routine, but more work is needed and therefore the quota is important to build the entire needed capacity. Occasional promotion activities are also important, because we are the only country in the civilized world that had no register of its population’s health register and no instrument to help people diagnose their own selves. Plus it was very expensive, 81 000 lek,” PM Rama said.
The government head informed the medical staff that the government will live up to its pledge hike the salaries of workers in the health sector next year.
The Premier also visited the state-of-the-art laboratory where check-up tests are performed.
“We are pretty confident about accuracy of our test results. The primary health check-up programme has helped in diagnosing a large number of pathologies, but I would like to bring to attention of a significant number of anaemia, because anaemia is not a disease. It is a medical condition, the signal of a hidden pathology that could be an infection, an inflammation, but in many cases it is malignant pathology and early detection of such conditions brings great benefits for the individuals with a malignant pathology,” the clinical laboratory practitioner said.
“Thousands of people are practically saved from death. In every aspect, in the aspect of technology, human resources, the performance criteria and standards, this is actually an excellence enterprise in Albania. It is an extraordinary investment also in the sense of the opportunities for a technological development and high-paying jobs for highly qualified individuals,” the Premier stated.
The team of clinical laboratory practitioners comprises a well-thought-out selection of best practitioners with an admirable working experience in the country’s health care system and abroad.
