Health Minister Arben Vitita has responded to criticism of the drug supply at the Oncology Clinic, acknowledging that there are occasionally shortages of certain drugs.
During his speech in the Kosovo Assembly, Vitita has said that of 70m euros in the total budget for medicines, 22m euros have been earmarked for Oncology.
He has argued the lack of cancer treatment drugs with the increase in the number of patients who have sought these precautions, explaining that demand has been greater than the originally planned supply of clinics.
In the past three years, a number of drugs have been added to the list of essential drugs, with oncological emphasis, including Palbociclib. By the middle of 2025 these drugs have not been on the list and when a new service starts or a new starting bar is never easy. First with these Oncology parameters for the first time in Kosovo, it has been supplied in 2025. Because it’s a new clinic medicine, it’s made the planning based on patients who went to the clinic and needed it. But as is often the case with patients who have been dealing with this drug or private clinics, or have taken it in private, or abroad, the moment it became available to the clinic is back to receive it at the Oncological Clinic, and this has doubled the number of patients who have requested this treatment for planning that has been done, he said in the Parliament.
According to the Year, increasing demand for these drugs has also affected the previous supply budget.
Of course there have been double budgetary implications and it is true that occasionally even lack of these drugs has been declared.
The minister has stressed that the cause of death cannot be determined without conducting autopsy and other relevant procedures.
Because of death, there is a need for autopsy and many other procedures to be clear. Can’t even doctor see the cause of death in such cases, Vitia declared.
He has made it known that the director of Oncology Clinic had collected information on the case and then reacted publicly to clarifying the circumstances.
The director of the Oncology Clinic receives all the information and comes out with a public reaction explaining the whole situation. Strangely enough, all the media that have previously distributed the incorrect news put it out and publish the institutional reaction except the journalist and the medium, the minister added.
The signal where the truth speaks before the news!
Source Layer: Signal
