Public hospital doctors in Albania will now have the possibility to offer their services to patients after hours in exchange for a fixed payment.

This is what the new draft bill on hospital services prescribes, along with more autonomy for hospitals.

During today’s discussions, the healthcare commission was also faced with opposition.

“You really think we possess these kinds of hospital structures that are able to offer after-hour services. In my opinion, we definitely don’t,” – said SMI MP, Petrit Vasili.

“There are patients who because of time restrictions cannot wait and they go to a private hospital. In these cases, we could offer them services from a doctor who agrees to offer such practices,” – responded Socialist MP Florenc Spaho.

These kinds of services will have a cost that will be determined by the directive board in each hospital.

This was also prescribed by the new draft bill that was adopted by the commission today.

According to government authorities, this model will lead to the elimination of abusive practices.

International experiences have shown that one of the issues when it comes to hospitals’ autonomy is linked to a lack of transparency.

“Based on this new law, you will be able to get a better service, simply due to the fact that because of this autonomy, hospitals will be able to manage their revenue and resources much better,” – said the deputy minister of health, Mira Rakacolli.

Managerial autonomy will first be applied at the Memorial Hospital in Fier. Other hospitals will be able to obtain their autonomy card after the law is ultimately adopted in Parliament and the criteria that need to be fulfilled by each hospital is published.