The amendment proposing the allocation of €1 million for equipment, prostheses and other medical devices for war invalids was not approved by the Committee on Budget, Labor and Transfers during its review of the draft law amending and supplementing the Law on Budget Appropriations for 2026.
The proposal was submitted by the Committee on Social Welfare, Labor, Family, the Values of the Liberation War, Victims of Sexual Violence During the War and Missing Persons. In the vote, the amendment received five votes in favor, none against and five abstentions.
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The chair of the Committee on Budget, Enver Haliti, explained that the aim of the amendment was to secure funds for the equipment, prostheses and other medical devices needed by war invalids.
Haliti said the proposal called for a provision to be added to Article 6 of the draft law, which relates to Article 32, paragraph 2, and Article 32a of the basic law, allocating €1 million for equipment, prostheses and other medical devices for war invalids.
Finance Minister Hekuran Murati opposed the need for such an amendment. According to him, the issue has already been regulated through an administrative instruction approved in March 2024 by the Ministry of Health.
Murati explained that the instruction allows these expenses to be covered through the Health Insurance Fund and that, for this reason, he does not consider the proposed amendment necessary.
Haliti also said that, based on information received from the Ministry of Health, two decisions were issued in 2024 by Health Minister Arben Vitia. One decision concerns people with the status of war invalids and KLA invalids, while the other concerns civilian war invalids.
According to him, these decisions have made it possible to financially cover the replacement, maintenance and fitting of prostheses, in accordance with the individual needs of applicants and the rules and procedures established by applicable legislation.
Haliti announced that, based on reports on treatment and reimbursement, 103 people have benefited so far. Of them, 58 are war invalids and KLA invalids, while 45 are civilian war invalids.
He added that all requests for the coverage of expenses have been resolved, with the exception of one case that remains under review. According to him, all other requests have been financially covered.
The committee’s deputy chair from the Democratic Party of Kosovo, Mergim Lushtaku, voted in support of the amendment. He said war invalids continue to file complaints about prosthesis expenses and that it was inaccurate to say that every case is fully covered.
Lushtaku described the amendment as reasonable, emphasizing that allocating €1 million would not have a significant impact on the budget. According to him, this category should receive greater support from the budget of the Republic of Kosovo.
Alliance MP Teuta Haxhiu also described the amendment as appropriate. She said war invalids have faced a painful reality and have often secured prosthesis replacements through friends and acquaintances in the diaspora.
Haxhiu stressed that, in her view, this category has been completely sidelined by the country’s institutions, despite its healthcare needs.
LDK MP Avdullah Hoti also declared his support for the amendment. He said the debate over prostheses demonstrated the failure of society and institutions to resolve the issue permanently.
Hoti recalled that during the pandemic, when he was in government, support had been allocated to various groups in society, including organizations emerging from the war. He said that in 2020, a written agreement had been reached with the War Veterans Organization, with the aim of institutionalizing the issue.
According to the proposal mentioned by Hoti, cases requiring prostheses would be identified by the Orthopedics Clinic at the University Clinical Center of Kosovo, while it would be determined which procedures could be carried out inside the country and which would have to be performed abroad. The expenses would be included in the regular budget of the University Clinical Center of Kosovo and the Orthopedics Clinic.
Hoti said such a solution would eliminate the need for new amendments in committees or executive decisions by the government and the health minister. He congratulated the minister on the 2024 decision but considered it insufficient as a final solution.
The LDK MP added that invalids should not remain dependent on executive decisions or special amendments. He proposed that the issue be addressed through the 2027 budget and that prostheses become part of the regular budget of the Orthopedics Clinic, rather than the Health Insurance Fund.
During its review of the draft law, the committee also discussed Article 5, which concerns the possibility of paying retroactive compensation, including compensation arising from Constitutional Court decisions.
Lushtaku requested clarification on the use of the phrase “The government may approve the payment of retroactive compensation.” He said the issue of compensation for work experience should have been addressed and that the Constitutional Court had issued a decision on a case that had not been included in previous planning.
According to Lushtaku, instead of the word “may,” the provision should use the term “must,” since it concerned an obligation that should be clearly defined in law. He requested that the wording also be improved from a technical standpoint.
Murati responded that the wording was primarily a legal, rather than a financial, matter. He said the word “may” was used to create the legal basis and possibility for making the retroactive payment, without allowing the budget or the original purpose defined by the Constitutional Court to be exceeded.
The minister explained that using the word “must” could create an obligation even in cases where the wording of the rest of the provision might contain errors or other legal nuances. For this reason, he considered the word “may” sufficient to establish the legal basis for the payment.
Hoti rejected this reasoning, saying that in the case of a Constitutional Court judgment, payment could not be left to the discretion of the executive. He proposed that the wording should be “The government must allocate funds for the payment” or that it should be specified directly that the government allocates funds for the respective compensation.
A representative of the Assembly’s Legal Office said the wording could be reviewed. She proposed removing the word “may” and specifying in the provision that the government approves the payment of retroactive compensation.
