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Medicines in Albania/ Shehu: There is a lack of security, most come with bags from abroad

2026-02-12 08:56:00, Aktualitet CNA

Medicines in Albania/ Shehu: There is a lack of security, most come with bags

Democratic MP Tritan Shehu said today that not only have medicine prices increased manifold, but this change does not justify safety.

Invited to "Syri TV", Shehu stated that unsafe medications are a worrying phenomenon in Albania, as margins are lacking.

According to the MP, another problem is the uncertified domestic production of medicines.

"In Albania, the medications that come in are absolutely not safe. In Albania, a phenomenon has occurred where the market is filled with "fake drugs", or unsafe medications.

What do we mean by unsafe medications? We mean medications that are not certified by international organizations, such as the European EMA or the American FDA. In other words, uncertified medications. And this happened with the legal changes they made in 2014.

These are the actions of the government as a whole and not just the Minister of Health. So, until 2014 we had some safety margins that were established in 2007, with Mr. Berisha. First, no medicine could enter Albania without being certified by the EMA, the European agency for this matter, or the American FDA.

Second, they were not registered in at least two European Union countries.

And third, registration was not enough, but they had not been circulating in at least two European Union countries for two years.

So, three insurance margins were set. Insurance margins that Kosovo has today. Kosovo does not allow any medicine not certified by the EMA to be imported. In 2014, they dropped the insurance margins and opened the doors for uncertified, therefore unsafe, medicines to be introduced into Albania. Why? For clientelism. To introduce medicines from Serbia, to introduce medicines from other uncertified countries, simply for clientelism and for corrupt benefits at the expense of people's health. This is the truth.

This caused the Albanian market to be flooded with these medications. And these were put on the reimbursement list in the first elections. Albanian citizens, who would seek safe medications, were forced to take non-reimbursed medications. So, medications that were paid for at a high price. So, in this way, the costs and prices of medications for safe medications automatically increased. Thirdly, this has created a phenomenon. 30% of the medications consumed in Albania come in bags from abroad. Some come for personal use, son sends to parent, brother to brother, some are contraband. So, this way, has stimulated smuggling. Smuggling simulates, in addition to being a legal violation, it also stimulates the uncertainty that it is not known what smuggling brings, and the second increases the price that the citizen pays.

So, citizens pay much higher prices today in Albania. And the essence of this is that the state removed the safety margins. Big companies have left Albania today, leaving big gaps in drug safety in Albania. This is the first big problem. The second big problem that Albanian pharmaceuticals have is the small number of registered active principles. It is very small. 430, it is very small. When normally it should be around 3000. This creates an artificial price increase. Because those who seek to obtain medications that are not registered in Albania as active principles are forced to bring them from abroad or come smuggled. So, they pay large amounts out of pocket. Another problem is the problem of domestic production.

Even domestic production is uncertified. There is no effort by the government to force domestic production to meet European standards. For me, this is not only to the detriment of the patient, but it is also to the detriment of domestic production," said Shehu. /CNA

 





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