A series of state institutions tasked with delivering health care and specific treatment for certain social categories have been built from scratch under the Reconstruction Programme after sustaining severe damages due to the devastating earthquake that hit Albania two years ago. The National Therapeutic and Rehabilitation Centre in Kombinat neighbourhood, Tirana, is one of these institutions to be reborn as a new reality in line with the best care standards for children with different abilities and their parents. The centre provides diagnostic services, treatment, education, and assistance in tackling child upbringing problems, development and rehabilitation of children aged 0-6 years. Its main mission is to improve the quality of life of children with special needs, as well as to provide support to their parents.

Prime Minister Edi Rama today visited the newly-rebuilt centre, whose infrastructure provides entertainment facilities and optimal conditions for children from all over Albania to address their problems, while care services and accommodation, both for the child and the mother, are delivered for free. 

“This is a newly-rehabilitated centre as part of the Ministry of Health and Social Protection investment projects. The facility sustained damages in the powerful earthquake and all the reinforcements have been made and it now meets best care and treatment service standards,” Health Minister Ogerta Manastirliu explained.

“What is special about this centre is that it provides residential treatment services both for children and their parents,” Health Minister Manastirliu said.

The centre, the only one of its kind in Albania, offers bed and outpatient services for children 0-18 years old with mental and physical health problems.

A team of neuropaediatricians, psychiatrists, paediatricians, psychologists, social workers, group therapists, speech therapists, ergotherapists, developmental therapists, physiotherapists provide their care services to children with special needs in this institution.