Over half of Albania’s hospital directors have reportedly resigned after Prime Minister Edi Rama slammed the quality of management in the healthcare system in a recent speech. 

As he embarks on his second term as prime minister, Rama is seeking to overhaul the public sector and root out incompetent and corrupt officials. His efforts have already caused controversy within Albania, most notably his decision to publish a list of the 100 least effective state officials. 

In a speech to health sector managers on July 31, Rama explicitly called on hospital directors to resign, holding them responsible for many of the health service’s shortcomings. Their jobs will be filled through public competition. 

Just days later, more than half of the hospital directors in the country had resigned, the Tirana Times reported. 

Tirana is trying to improve the healthcare system, which Rama admitted has seen “many years of deterioration”. Yet the prime minister claimed the “unacceptable management level” to be the cause of many of its problems. 

“Mismanagement is the main cause of the current situation of our hospitals, one of the main and untold causes, although there is also a great dose of negativity associated with the image of doctors in Albania,” he said on July 31. 

He singled out the long waiting times for patients without political or personal connections, as well as the failure of any hospital to apply for funding for medical specialists under a programme launched by the government. 

“Have you ever asked how many people in need, who are neither your relatives nor recommended by an MP, have to wait in hospital yards only because there are no doctors or nurses to serve them? Who is responsible for this?… It is you,” Rama said. 

However, his attack on the medical profession was strongly criticised by opposition politicians.