“A clear break with clientelism”: Erion Braçe visits QSUT for a check-up and shares what surprised him

MP Erion Braçe was at QSUT on Monday for a medical visit.

He said he felt reassured to learn that Health Minister Klodiana Spahiu had also been there for a working meeting.

Braçe praised several of her decisions taken since she was appointed to lead the Health Ministry.

Braçe’s reaction:

“This morning I was at QSUT as a citizen, for a medical need, not as an MP. There I learned that from 8:00 to 8:15, the health minister, the QSUT director and the heads of services at QSUT were in a working meeting;

I was sincerely pleased — those who run the country’s largest tertiary medical services center were together for the work, the service, the shortages, the other concerns, the service, the solutions; all the actors were there together, and that inspires confidence!

I have liked several acts of the new health minister — from the day of her appointment to what I encountered today;

First, the dismissal of the head of the Health Operator, which was created to develop as a public service what for ten years had been provided as a service by private operators;

Second, the cancellation of a procurement procedure that screamed clientelism, and the continuation of a service the private sector used to provide — but now with private providers, when it should have been different.

Look, clientelism was, and still is, the gravest disease in the administration of health services in Albania;

Especially at QSUT, where the damage clientelism causes is far greater.

We do not spend little money on health care — it is not little money at all; every time the increased budget has been discussed, I have raised the concern about effectiveness in the use of this money; clientelism in the procurement of goods — mainly medicines and medical devices and equipment, as well as services — has unjustly and unlawfully devoured public money!

A strong and clear break with clientelism will improve supplies and the services people receive from them!”