The Minister of Health, Evis Sala, seems to be addressing the emergency that requires an immediate solution at the Oncology Hospital with meetings abroad and long-term agreements, which take time to implement. Recently, the Minister announced that she met in Italy with Ruggero De Maria, the President of the Alliance Against Cancer.
According to her, the conversation focused on Albania's efforts to improve prevention, treatment and care for cancer patients.
“Our discussion focused on Albania’s ongoing efforts to further improve cancer prevention, treatment and care, including: establishing a National Oncology Network; advancing the National Institute for Tumors; standardizing treatment protocols and expanding access to innovative clinical trials,” the minister wrote.
However, Sala seems to be following the same approach as her predecessors in the Health Ministry, who have signed numerous agreements promising to solve the problems of Oncology, but which in practice have not brought tangible changes. This is reminiscent of the February agreement with the Sheba Hospital in Israel, which was presented as a solution to long waits, corruption and the lack of new drugs for the treatment of patients with tumor diseases.
Even that agreement, although sensational in terms of communication, did not bring real improvements. Complaints from patients and staff continue, reporting severe shortages of essential medicines and equipment. The Supreme State Audit Office also raised the alarm, highlighting serious mismanagement in this institution.
For this reason, Minister Sala would do well to focus on concrete and urgent solutions for Oncology patients, because agreements and Facebook posts receive propaganda "likes" faster than they actually affect the improvement of the situation.
