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Free healthcare? Albanians pay 350 million euros "out of pocket" for health in 2021

2023-02-22 07:44:32Aktualitet SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX

Free healthcare? Albanians pay 350 million euros "out of pocket" for

The year 2021 marked a record in citizens' spending on their health, largely influenced by the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

INSTAT data for the indicator "Health and social work activities" reveal that the income of this category in 2021 reached almost 41 billion ALL, or 350 million euros, marking a historical record.

Compared to the 2018-2019 average, when the country was in a period of normal health, income has almost doubled.

This significant increase in income has come despite the fact that the number of employees employed in this sector has remained almost unchanged at around 12,000 people and total investments have expanded slightly by 6.7%. The number of enterprises was 3,438, almost unchanged from the previous year.

Even the profits of businesses that operate in the health activity have expanded significantly, reaching 10 billion ALL, or 85 million euros in 2021, from 31 million euros in 2019.

The sector's rate of return also jumped to 24%, from the 11% average in 2018-2019, ranking as the second highest-returning activity in the country, after real estate. 

Health activity has seen a strong growth in the last decade, exploiting the low level of public sector services.

Compared to 2011, when there were only 31 million euros, the income of this activity has increased 11-fold.

According to INSTAT, "Health and social work activities" include hospitals, clinics, health care centers for the elderly, dental clinics, social care, etc.

Why the health business flourished

Unlike the economy, which recovered rapidly in 2021, the health situation continued to be difficult, especially in the first part of the year, as the government gave up austerity measures, after the effects they had on the economic decline.

In the first part of 2021, the wave of the pandemic reached its peak, reflected by the high number of deaths. According to INSTAT, in the first quarter of 2021, the loss of life reached a record of 10.2 thousand people, with a 61% increase compared to the average of the same period of 2016-2019. Even in the second quarter, deaths increased by 21% compared to the 2016-2019 average.

For the entire year 2021, fatalities reached a record level in the history of Albania, with 30.6 thousand people, with a 40% increase compared to the average of 2016-2019.

As a result of the overcrowding of public hospitals, but also the low trust in the public health service system, many individuals were treated in private hospitals, which marked a strong increase in income in 2021.

The official data of the balance sheets of five private hospitals, processed by "Monitor", show that their combined income was about 12.3 billion lek (103 million euros), reaching the highest record level since the first hospitals began to operate. enter the Albanian market more than a decade ago.

In 2020, the expansion of the activity of medical laboratories was strong, following the high costs of carrying out swabs, or subsequent analyzes to see the progress of the disease. In 2021, the increase was even higher, influenced not only by carrying out tests to identify the disease and then cure it, but also by the condition of almost all countries that did not allow entry into their borders of persons who did not have perform a swab, or rapid test. This helped laboratories to be the most successful and fastest growing business in 2021. According to INSTAT, in 2021, 4.2 million exits of Albanian citizens were registered, a large part of which in EU countries.

In total, the annual turnover of the main laboratories increased fivefold to about 4.6 billion ALL, or 3 billion ALL (almost 25 million euros) more than the previous year.


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