Ida Ismail
Reports i published by "Together for Life" raises concerns about the critical state of public financing of the health system in Albania. According to the report “Monitoring Health Sector Expenditures 2025”, our country remains among the least funded in the region, despite government declarations to increase the health budget. Albania's health spending per capita is 33% lower than the average of the Western Balkan countries and 42% lower than the average of the countries in the Region.
By 2025, health spending in Albania will account for only 2.9% of GDP and 9.6% of the public budget, while per capita funding will reach only $590, the lowest level in the Western Balkans. Albanian citizens will also continue to pay almost half of health costs out of pocket, with 48.27% of total spending, the highest level in the region.
According to the report, these indicators place it far from the objectives of the National Health Strategy 2021-2030 and the government's promises of free healthcare.
Unrealized investments and weaknesses in fund management
The report highlights serious problems in the way public funds in healthcare are planned and managed. According to the findings, a significant portion of the investments planned for 2025 in hospital care have been reduced or have remained unrealized due to shortcomings in procurement, project management and monitoring.
Another concern is the reduction in funding for primary care, while the burden of Services for citizens continues to increase. The report argues that the shift of funds towards hospitals and specialized Services has been made in response to crises and shortages in the hospital system, but at the expense of strengthening primary health care.
“The shift of funding sources from the primary to the secondary system is unjustifiable and conflicts with the growing needs of the population and with the strategic objectives of strengthening primary care as the foundation of the health system,” the report states.
There have also been problems with budget planning and investment management by the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (MHSW), as the significant reductions in the budget plan during 2025 for current expenditures (the sum of all operating and maintenance expenditures) and capital expenditures show that the initial planning was not closely linked to real implementation capacities.
The lack of integration between the MOHMS reporting and the detailed FSDKSH data also remains a concern, which means that critical issues such as budget deviations, reimbursement schemes, and concession contracts are not fully reflected in official reports, limiting transparency and institutional accountability.
In order for our country not to be among the least funded in the region in the field of health, but to have increased attention and improvement of the situation, it is recommended to increase the share of public financing for health in relation to GDP and total public spending. Also, the strengthening of the health insurance scheme with the aim of reducing out-of-pocket payments.
Expanding the packages covered by reimbursement schemes for citizens and improving transparency and monitoring of public investments and hospital performance./acqj.al
