Bajrami: Healthcare Situation Critical, Corruption Behind It

Hykmete Bajrami, the newly elected MP from the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), has strongly criticized the state of the healthcare system, describing it as a direct consequence of poor governance and corruption over the past six years.

In a public appearance, Bajrami stressed that the country’s reality cannot be measured through conferences or statistics provided by the executive, but by looking closely at the conditions inside healthcare facilities.

She invited citizens to go to the Pediatrics, Gynecology, Oncology, Orthopedics, and Emergency clinics to witness for themselves the shortages, excessively long queues, and daily challenges faced by both patients and medical staff.

Bajrami clarified that doctors and nurses are not to blame for this reality, as they continue to keep the system afloat despite difficult working conditions.

The LDK MP pointed the finger at the government for mismanaging public money, noting that despite an annual budget of around four billion euros, the healthcare sector constantly suffers from a lack of medicines, medical materials, and basic supplies.

According to the MP, contracts for cleaning, linens, food, and medicines are awarded for significant sums in healthcare, yet patients still face essential shortages. She also highlighted reports of a lack of breast cancer therapy at the University Clinical Center of Kosovo (UCCK), claiming that patients are forced to secure those treatments themselves.

Bajrami emphasized that this situation has a clear name, directly linking it to the phenomenon of corruption. Political responsibility, she said, lies with the incumbent government, including the Parliamentary Committee on Health, which is chaired by acting Prime Minister Albin Kurti.

“If healthcare fails, it is not just a government that fails, but the entire state fails,” she said.

Her remarks came just a day after the University Clinical Center of Kosovo (UCCK) took very seriously the concerns expressed publicly about the experience of Aulona Memeti’s family during the treatment of their minor child at the Pediatrics Clinic. Consequently, the director of UCCK has ordered the creation of an ad-hoc committee, which is conducting a thorough administrative investigation to clarify all aspects of the incident.