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Cancer patients flee abroad, the number of diagnoses at the University Hospital fell by 45% in 2024

2025-11-19 07:38:25, Sociale CNA

Cancer patients flee abroad, the number of diagnoses at the University Hospital

Tumor diseases are advancing in the Albanian population faster than the state's ability to afford their treatment with medications.

As a result, a good portion of patients are forced to leave the country for treatment, facing multiple challenges that include, first of all, high financial costs.

"Given that we do not have Actinomycin D in our country and we are facing an aggressive form, we think that the child should be treated abroad." This was the statement of a family with a child with a tumor that the Supreme State Audit found in an audit it carried out at the QSUT on the effectiveness of drugs against neoplasms.

Although the patient was provided with the first cycle of treatment, the other steps were not continued at the Interhospital Commission, as he left for treatment abroad.

Between 2020 and 2024, about 12 tumor patients who needed to be treated with "Actinomycin D" were sent for treatment abroad, 8 of them.

As the spread of tumor diseases is increasing year by year, the number of diagnoses at the "Mother Teresa" Hospital Center is decreasing.

According to the Albanian Supreme Audit Institution, last year 2024 diagnoses for tumor diseases were made at the University Hospital, or 45% less than in 2023.

On the other hand, last year 3,374 people lost their lives from these diseases, or 1 percent more than in 2023.

A large number of people with tumor diseases decide to seek treatment abroad due to insecurity and lack of medications.

According to the Albanian Supreme Audit Office, out of 253 anti-tumor drugs authorized for marketing in the Republic of Albania, 46% were not imported at any time during the audit period, which indicates a lack of effective mechanisms that link authorization with actual supply on the market.

Also, a low level of laboratory control over the quality of antitumor drugs is observed.

According to the ALSAI, it results that all institutional control and supervision mechanisms have not been exhaustively exhausted by all entities under audit, negatively impacting the good management of the processes of the entire drug availability chain.

In this context, the problems stem from a series of interrelated factors such as budgetary under-financing, deficiencies in planning based on real needs by the Services, procedural delays, combined with irregularities throughout the drug administration process, supervision of supplies, and lack of monitoring by responsible bodies, resulting in systemic deficiencies in the provision of healthcare services for the target group of patients with tumor diseases./ Monitor.al