Lezhë, Regional Hospital, a Modern Investment Strengthening Healthcare Services and Bringing Specializations Closer to Citizens
The Regional Hospital of Lezhë today represents a significant investment in the country’s healthcare infrastructure, providing services in line with modern and contemporary standards for patients across the region. Fully reconstructed and completed one year ago, the hospital has brought not only a substantial improvement in conditions, but also an expansion in the range of services, including the establishment of a new unit dedicated to infectious diseases.
As part of his visit to Lezhë, Prime Minister Edi Rama, accompanied by the Minister of Health and Social Protection, Evis Sala, inspected the hospital’s facilities and new services on site, and held a discussion with the medical staff.
Minister Sala emphasised that the investment carried out in 2025 has delivered modern infrastructure and advanced technology, enabling the provision of specialised services not only for the city of Lezhë, but for the entire region. She underlined that the model of establishing dedicated services, such as those for infectious diseases, is intended to be extended to other regional hospitals.
Within the framework of the development of oncology services, the Lezhë Regional Hospital now operates a day chemotherapy unit, which will be reconstructed in line with the same specifications as the University Hospital Centre “Mother Teresa”, ensuring unified protocols in accordance with European standards.
Furthermore, as part of the policy to establish centres of excellence, Lezhë will be among the cities where such a centre will be developed, in line with the principle that excellence should not be concentrated solely in Tirana, but that specialised services must also be available in regional hospitals, across different fields of expertise.
“This hospital was reconstructed and completed in 2025, meaning that we now have modern infrastructure and technology. A new dedicated service for infectious diseases has also been established, to deliver specialised services not only in the city, but across the entire Lezhë region. In this direction, we are working for this to serve as a model to be implemented in other regional hospitals as well, to create these specialised services.
As part of the development of our oncology service plan, here in Lezhë Regional Hospital we already have a day chemotherapy unit, which will be rebuilt with the same specifications as those implemented at the University Hospital Centre ‘Mother Teresa’, with the same standards and fully unified protocols aligned with European standards.
Likewise, within the framework of centres of excellence, we will also establish such a centre here in Lezhë. The principle is that excellence should not be concentrated only in Tirana, but that services of excellence should also be available in regional hospitals, naturally across different fields of specialisation,” stated the Minister of Health and Social Protection.
-Mr. Prime Minister, welcome. It is an honor for us to have you here at Lezhë Hospital, together with the Minister. I would like to thank you for the attention you have given to healthcare and to the medical profession. I remember that when you came to power, one of the first things you did was to double the on-call allowance for doctors.
Prime Minister Edi Rama:
In fact, we received a complaint and applied a bit of logic to it, why? The argument was that emergency doctors cannot be equated with specialist doctors. But emergency medicine is a specialty, involving all those life-saving missions and intense stress.
The issue arose because it has been observed that there are fewer applications for emergency medicine compared to other fields. And how could there be, if someone chooses that demanding frontline role and is then treated as a general practitioner without specialist status? That is unfair, so naturally they say no. A doctor is a doctor, they prefer to specialize elsewhere.
That was the discussion, and we agreed that this will be addressed in June, through the mid-year budget adjustments. Emergency doctors will be included in the category of specialist doctors, so that they receive a dignified salary.
At the same time, it is true that wage increases have been significant, because economic growth has been significant, giving us the ability to raise them. The introduction of indexation and seniority-based pay is not something we were unaware of before, we simply did not have the means. Now that the economy allows it, we have implemented it for teachers, police officers, and military personnel, and we will extend it across the board. These are professions tied to critical frontline services, so I believe we will continue to have the opportunity to increase wages further.
Meanwhile, the hospital has been in very good shape. I remember when I first came here, this part was fragmented, and construction had just begun on the new section. Now it looks quite good.
-Now what remains is improving doctors’ performance.
Prime Minister Edi Rama:
I have my own kind of barometer for measuring institutional performance, my phone, where, as you can imagine, many complaints come in. In a way, I have a general picture of dissatisfaction across the territory. But to be honest, regarding Lezhë Hospital, I have not generally observed complaints. From what I have heard, you have earned the respect of those you serve.
Minister of Health and Social Protection, Evis Sala:
We were just discussing the need to separate the outpatient clinic from the hospital. You had previously requested this. Since the old maternity building is in the center and needs restructuring, we are considering including it in the 2027 investment plan. This would allow for better management, with the hospital maintaining its proper function, and the polyclinic remaining in the center, as is the model in other cities.
Prime Minister Edi Rama:
Any hospital that also carries the burden of daily outpatient services becomes overloaded. It creates confusion and a lack of focus, driven by daily patient flows.
But what I find truly outstanding is the decentralization of oncology services and the creation of local treatment units, including chemotherapy. This is something exceptional, because it will bring services much closer to people and significantly ease problems such as travel and waiting times, especially in those conditions, including family members who must accompany patients.
Minister of Health and Social Protection, Evis Sala:
Absolutely, because oncology services were originally conceived as outpatient services. They are currently delivered in hospital beds because patients come to Tirana, but treatment should be provided during the day, after which patients return home. By decentralizing, we enable outpatient treatment, as we plan to do here. This is the site, we have already conducted the survey.
-What we have observed recently, at least in our hospital, due to changes in financial evaluation and especially infrastructure improvements, is a growing interest among newly specialized doctors to choose Lezhë. The opportunities to practice medicine are far greater in regional hospitals than in large tertiary centers, where it is much harder for young doctors to gain practical experience.
If we develop regional hospital models like those being created—where there is proper financial recognition, modern infrastructure, access to advanced technology, and opportunities for career development, as you just mentioned, regional hospitals could become, and will become, the first choice for young doctors to work within our healthcare system.
Prime Minister Edi Rama:
I believe we have very good doctors. Let people say what they want is something I have personally confirmed, including through conversations with foreign professionals who have worked alongside our doctors. We have very good doctors and very good nurses.
Our problem is management. We do not have the long-standing tradition of hospital management that exists elsewhere. This is still relatively new for us.
We are currently in discussions with two major groups regarding management partnerships, as has been done in many countries. Poland, for example, achieved a major transformation by bringing in external management. Both groups, independently of each other, emphasize that a key element is to establish a private unit within the hospital, for the hospital’s own doctors. This would become part of the hospital system, giving doctors a sense of co-ownership and allowing them to generate income based on performance.
Secondly, we must begin by introducing service fees for tourists.
-In pediatrics, during the summer we see over 100 children per day. In just two summer months, I can carry out more than 2,000 consultations.
Prime Minister Edi Rama:
Until recently, all doctors were paid the same regardless of seniority—that was not normal, but we simply did not have the means to change it. The same applied to salaries without indexation; they should naturally be indexed, but we were unable to do so.
Now we are moving in that direction, but we must further increase the state’s financial capacity.
Financial autonomy will not solve everything, but it will create a very encouraging and motivating foundation, because these matters will be discussed based on a defined budget. Each hospital will have its own budget, and decision-making will be decentralized.
This gives hospital leadership a sense of ownership, in the best sense of the word—over the asset. I am convinced that this will also address maintenance issues. One of our ongoing problems, common in developing countries, is that we invest without considering maintenance costs.
Everything may be perfect today, but it still needs to be maintained. When those who use the facility feel a sense of ownership, it is maintained far better than when responsibility is unclear. These changes will come step by step. Even though we are having a pleasant discussion now is partly due to the environment, if we were in a deteriorated setting, we would have left by now.
Albanian doctors who have worked under those conditions we often talk about, conditions that were not from a century ago, but right here, are heroes, without question.
Thank you very much.
