Why do Albanians have to pay 3-4 times more for oxygen?

2024-10-15 13:58:00, Denoncim CNA

Why do Albanians have to pay 3-4 times more for oxygen?

Illustrative photo

CNA is conducting another investigation that affects poor Albanians, about oxygen, which Albania buys 3-4 times more expensive than other countries in the region such as Kosovo or North Macedonia. (READ HERE)

With facts, evidence and documents, we showed how much oxygen is bought in Kosovo and North Macedonia, comparing it with Albania.

CNA addressed a letter to the Ministry of Health in September of this year, which in its response gave us the correct values ??regarding the procedure.

The Ministry's document gives us a specified value, without VAT for liquid oxygen, 12,744,522 liters of liquid oxygen worth about 1.6 billion new alleks, about 16 million euros and the other value which is about 290 million new alleks, about 3 million euros approximately for an amount of about 8,414,179 liters of oxygen gas in this case.

In a simple value calculation by dividing the amount of money without VAT and liters of oxygen, it results that in Albania the purchase of liquid gas is made at the value of 1.2 euros without VAT, which is about 1.5 euros/liter of liquid gas.

Answer back to CNA, the figures in the documents, the price of oxygen for Albania

As for Kosovo, CNA published the document that shows that in a purchase of 309 thousand euros, the value per unit with VAT in this case is 0.43 euros/liter of gas. So, in Albania with VAT it is about 1.5 euros/liter, in Kosovo the same product, medical gas, is bought at the value of 0.43 euros/liter.

The price of oxygen in Kosovo

In the case of North Macedonia, according to official data, in Oxygen (O2) for medical use specified by a simple calculation, the value is 0.45 cents/liter of gas.

Oxygen for medical use with 99.5% purity

So what happens?

We pay for the services that we do not receive, we pay for the sterilization that the former minister and other officials are in prison, we pay for the checkup that is not only suspicious but that there have been complaints and there are a thousand scandals, we also pay for non-existent incinerators.

We pay 3-4 times the price for oxygen, oxygen for patients.

The government can provide oxygen and can say that we have provided it as a service, but why should it provide 3-4 times more than what Kosovo, North Macedonia and the countries of the region offer?

Why should such a monopoly be allowed, because in fact the responsibility is not at all the responsibility of the ministry that made a tender?

They have made a tender, there is an amount, the offers will come, they studied the local market, but an operator comes instead. This shows that no others come, they are not allowed.

What are doubts? Were they hindered because there were also some small operators who disappeared?

It seems that there is a big operator and a second one playing on the football field without opponents, just replacing each other.

The price of oxygen is 3-4 times higher, patients have been assured, the government has done very well, but are there institutions that control these? Are there authorities? Can this type of monopoly be allowed?

Why should there be only one operator of this service when the region and Europe have dozens of them, even of much better quality?

The issue is not simply to attack a business, an activity, who are these companies, nor to attack the officials of the Ministry who made this tender. It is simply and only the fact that poor Albanians have to pay 3-4 times more the price of oxygen and the market is a monopoly.

The state has instruments that intervene and solve these types of cases and problems. It cannot allow the government's own costs to rise indefinitely at prices that are completely abusive.

SPAK already has another very important fact about the monopoly of liquid oxygen in Albania and the documents of Kosovo and the documents of North Macedonia published by CNA clearly show what happens./ CNA