Albania To Increase Its Number Of Subsidized Medicines

Albania's government has announced that the number of drugs subject to subsidies from the Institute of Health Insurance is 203, but this number is to be increased, according to the Albanian Telegraphic Agency.

Medicines on the basic list of drugs in Albania are supplied to the population free of charge, while those on the main list, which number around 200, have their prices subsidized by 67%. The state reserve fund will increase to cover the rising prices of medicines in 1996.

Meanwhile, Albania's Institute of Health Insurance will cover the expenditure of the 1,714 family doctors in 1996. Also next year, doctors working in the remote communes of Tripoja, Has, Kukes, Mirdita, Mat, Gramsh, Kolonja, Tapelena and Mallakastra, will have their salaries increased to exceed those of doctors in Albanian cities.