The Minister of Health and Social Protection, Albana Koçiu, held a meeting with general practitioners who welcomed the initiative of the Ministry of Health and the Faculty of Medicine for the specialisations of “Family Doctor” and “Emergency Doctor”.

The specialisations in these two priority areas aim to meet the urgent need for specialists in these fields, improve the quality of health services and increase patients’ access to medical care close to where they live.

The Minister of Health and Social Protection, Albana Koçiu, said, “We had a total of 50 quotas, i.e. 30 for general practitioners and 20 for emergency doctors. In the first round, we had applications and the places were filled. The second round includes 13 emergency doctors and 9 general practitioners.

“Emergency doctors are very important in all hospital structures, but also in pre-hospital emergencies. But on the other hand, when it comes to the health of citizens, it is the general practitioners who have to play an extraordinary role in the health of the community,” said Koçiu.

The minister added that importance has been given to health centres as the first point of contact for every citizen, in order to provide qualified staff who not only make referrals to hospital structures, but also make proper diagnoses.
“We have established the first family medicine centre in Tirana and we will continue to expand these family medicine centres to other health centres, giving the family doctor an exceptional role,” she stressed.

Applications for specialisation in Emergency Medicine and Family Medicine will be open until 24 June, and for the first time, there will be no exam for this important process. The minister emphasised that the doctors who will carry out the specialisation will be paid 100% of the specialist doctor’s salary for the three years of the specialisation.

Minister Koçiu also announced that around 20,000 doctors and nurses will benefit from another pay rise from July.
“With the new salary increases in July, we will have an even bigger increase as far as general practitioners are concerned. An increase of 20,000 ALL over the current salary and nurses with 15,000 ALL over the current salary. There are about 20,000 health workers who will benefit from this second increase in July,” said Albana Koçiu, Minister of Health and Social Protection.