The total number of hospitalizations in the country has decreased for the period January-August 2025.
According to the data of the 8-month report "On the implementation of financial monitoring indicators" published by the Ministry of Health, the total number of hospitalized patients for the period reached 209.7 thousand. Compared to the same period last year, the number of hospitalizations decreased by 3%.
But according to the data, some specialized services have seen a significant increase in hospitalizations, especially psychiatry and cardiology.
In 2025, 7,543 patients were treated in cardiology departments, compared to 6,419 patients the previous year. The number of patients treated by cardiology and cardiac surgery packages increased by 17.5%.
Doctors warned last year that due to high levels of pollution, lack of physical activity and the damage caused by malnutrition, there would be an increasing trend for cardiac and neurological symptoms. Other factors, according to Ilir Allkja, an emergency physician, that are influencing the increase in the number of cases with cardiac symptoms are the increase in the average age of the population, but also the lack of improvement in early diagnoses in the districts.
"In Tirana's university hospitals, but also in private ones, there is an increased demand for treatment of patients with cardiac problems, whether outpatient or inpatient, hospital care.
The first factor is the aging of the population, which is associated with increased morbidity.
The second factor is the low profitability of municipal and perhaps even regional hospitals. It is a fact that many patients are treated incorrectly in the districts and this is due to the lack of clinical staff and equipment.
"An additional factor remains the fact that in many areas there is a lack of a primary care physician, a family doctor, as patients remain undiagnosed for a long time and are referred to a specialist when problems have become chronic, worsened, and are often impossible to treat at home," says doctor Allkja.
Psychiatric services have also seen an increase. For the period January-August 2025, the number of patients treated in psychiatric hospitals reached 1,129 patients. The number of people hospitalized in psychiatric hospitals has increased by 36%, compared to the same period of the previous year.
Beyond specialized services, data for January-August 2025 show an increase in the number of patients in several important support services.
"Regarding the increase in psychiatric hospitalizations, I think the main reason is the lack of a national strategy to treat the many users of hashish, alcohol, harder drugs, etc. on an outpatient basis. It is no coincidence that we have so much violence on the streets, in the family or even in institutions. The treatment of people who are addicted to alcohol and drugs should become a national emergency, in my opinion, because only in this way can we have a safer society down to its very core, in the family," underlines doctor Ilir Allkja.
The number of patients receiving dialysis treatment has increased from 136,986 to 140,509 or 2.5% compared to the first 8 months of 2024. Meanwhile, emergency units have handled 97,273 cases or 3% compared to the same period in 2024.
There has also been an increase in cataract (eye surgery) interventions, with 2,876 patients treated in January-August 2025, up from 2,497 in the first eight months of 2024. Eye surgery interventions have increased by 15%
Breast cancer screening has increased by about 61%. The number of women who have undergone screening for January-August 2025 reached 3,401 women. While the number of cervical cancer screenings has gone from 4,706 to 3,225 women or about 32% less than January-August of the previous year. While the number of patients treated with radiotherapy decreased by 4.5%./ D.Azo
