Young healthcare professionals will be able to sit the State Exam immediately after completing their professional internship, without the need for the intermediate assessment procedures previously required by Professional Orders. The change comes through a joint act of the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and the Ministry of Education, which aims to facilitate the process of entering the labour market for young healthcare professionals.
While signing the act, Education Minister Mirela Kumbaro said the decision follows discussions with interest groups and consideration of the ongoing demands of young healthcare professionals, including dentists, radiographers, pharmacists, midwives and other categories within this group. She stressed that, until now, these professionals had to pass several intermediate exams before sitting the State Exam to obtain their licence and practise the profession for which they were trained and have completed their professional internship.
According to Kumbaro, these procedures were unnecessary and placed an additional psychological, bureaucratic and economic burden on young professionals. “After several discussions with our teams, today we agreed and signed the order to remove these excessive burdens, with the aim of facilitating employment and encouraging young professionals to enter the labour market, but also to lift a psychological burden. With the deregulation we decided on today, we invite you, once you have completed your internship, to get ready for the next exam to obtain your licence to practise the profession at the Education Services Centre”, Kumbaro said.
Minister Kumbaro also made known that the Education Services Centre, which as part of the reform will be transformed into the National Education Services Agency, will expand its capacities and spaces for holding exams. She announced that an important investment is currently under way to create new facilities with better conditions, more testing positions and modern technology.
“Completion of this project next year will make it possible to avoid exams in shifts, which are currently held due to limited capacity, guaranteeing more dignified and comfortable conditions for candidates sitting the State Exam”, Kumbaro said. Today’s decision, she added, aims to respond to the demands of interest groups, improve the practices followed and create better conditions for the development of the professional assessment process.
Health and Social Welfare Minister Klodiana Spahiu thanked the Ministry of Education for its cooperation in implementing the regulatory changes, stressing that removing the intermediate exams is a long-standing demand of young healthcare professionals. “Thanks to the cooperation between the two ministries, it has become possible for young professionals, after completing their professional internship, not to have to sit an earlier exam before the State Exam. The change covers pharmacists, nurses, midwives, dentists and other healthcare professionals, aiming to prepare them as well as possible for the labour market”, Spahiu said.
Minister Spahiu stated that особено attention will be paid to strengthening professional internships, so that young people acquire the skills necessary to practise the profession and meet citizens’ expectations. “We will continue to cooperate with all Professional Orders, and we truly highly value their contribution, both in training professionals and young generations in all these professions, and in drafting new cooperation protocols, so that professional internships are carried out properly and in line with citizens’ expectations”, Spahiu said.