Patients who are physically unable to go to health centers are intended to receive medical care at home across the country. Currently this service is offered in about half of health centers, while the Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Klodiana Spahiu, has stated that the aim is to extend it to 100% of centers. To achieve this objective, the home health care service is intended to be included in the primary health care package and to have defined funding.
“The Health Care Fund must include it in the primary health care package and cost this experience, so that from approximately 50% of centers we bring it to 100% of our health centers”, Spahiu declared. The minister made this statement during the closing of the 12-year project “Health for All”, supported by the Swiss government. Through this project, 208 health centers have been supported, 31 facilities have been rehabilitated or rebuilt, and over 241,000 residents have benefited. Also, 2,419 doctors and nurses have been trained.
According to Spahiu, the experience created by training medical personnel for home care should continue and expand. “The training of these nurses and the entire team of doctors for home care has been an experience that we must not only preserve, but take forward”, she said. The minister emphasized that health centers should not be limited only to visits and treatments within their premises, but should also provide support for people who cannot leave home due to their physical condition.
“The health center today, in our concept, is not only a center that should care for people’s health, but should also care in the social aspect. These investments are made for those people who are unable to have service at health centers, because they do not have the physical ability to reach the health center”, said Spahiu.