From healthcare failure to public order and safety: What awaits Albania with Koçi?

Albania has become a country where gangs rule every corner, drugs have become the 'source of life' and prostitution rings are everywhere, from south to north.

Traffickers make the law even in the heart of Europe, and Albania has appeared in major international media outlets on this topic many times.

Every day we have murders, injuries, some for property, some for "why did you look me in the eye", some in schools, some from macabre speed, some for self-defense. Every day we have abuse, rape, violence, abandonment.

And even worse, murder in the courtroom, because the security system is not 0, it's minus.

Faced with this reality, Prime Minister Edi Rama appointed Albana Koçiu to the Ministry of Interior. A minister who knows how to distribute economic aid forms, not command operations against crime.

“ Ms. Koçiu has a total of over 20 years of experience in management, in leadership positions in central and local administration, with a particular focus on the field of human resources management, as well as social services.

Ms. Koçiu completed her higher education at the Faculty of Social Sciences (1996-2000), at the University of Tirana with successful achievements, specializing with a Master of Science on the monitoring of the social services system in Albania (2005-2007). She has continued to give her academic contribution as an Associate Professor from 2010 to 2022 at the Department of Social Sciences at the University of Tirana. ", states the minister's biography on the website of the Prime Minister's Office .

When Koçiu was Minister of Health, all attention was on the lack of equipment, oncology scandals, and patients waiting for months for basic treatment.

We recall that in June 2024, the Tirana Prosecutor's Office uncovered a scheme to defraud and extort tumor patients at the Oncology Hospital at the University Hospital of Tirana.

 While patients diagnosed with tumors went to the state Oncology Hospital at the QSUT to receive public health services, they were directed to receive services at the "Megis" medical clinic owned by doctor Edmond Gashi, who had it in the Astir area of ​​Tirana. 

Not only that. The phones of doctors and service coordinators have been monitored for a long time, resulting in conversations and genuine bargaining, such as the sale of cytostatic medications at considerable prices that were taken out of the Oncology Hospital or purchased at considerable prices for chemotherapy from the pharmacy, as well as the fees charged for surgical interventions.

Also, the only 'Cobalt Therapy' device that serves for radiotherapy was left out of technical conditions in order to prevent patients from receiving the service at the Oncology Clinic but at other private clinics, becoming a source of danger not only for the doctors working there but also for the patients.

Now, as Minister of the Interior, the question that arises is simple: what will she do with the "systemization" of the police, with crime, with gangs when she has had a hard time systemizing a hospital? Will it function with blue uniforms like the oncology equipment functioned?

The objectives of the Ministry of Interior Institution are:

1. To ensure the maintenance of public order and security;

2. To monitor and cooperate with the institutions responsible for implementing measures in the framework of the fight against human trafficking;

3. To prevent and protect human life and property from the risk of fire and natural and other disasters, in cases of civil emergencies;

4. To organize the functioning of the Civil Registry Service in the Republic of Albania;

5. To coordinate, through the institution of the prefect, the activity of central institutions at the local level and their delegated functions, with local government units in communes, municipalities and regions;

6. To create conditions for guaranteeing the exercise of the right to vote and opportunities for the full functioning of local and central elected bodies, the control of delegated functions of local government, as well as the coordination of local government units.

7. To provide all Albanian citizens, stateless persons and foreign citizens with permanent residence, within the territory of the Republic of Albania, with a unique identification document, a passport, as well as to determine the meaning, method of formation and scope of use of the personal number;

8. To draft policies and strategic plans through coordination, coordination and monitoring of reports related to strategic documents, including EU reports, international agreements, projects, as well as drafting and monitoring of the objectives and priorities of the Ministry. / NF