Pristina, September 21, 2023 – At the “Health for all” conference, organized by the office for good governance, the Ombudsperson, Mr. Naim Qelaj said that the right to health and social protection is included in the group of social-economic rights, which are guaranteed by the Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo.

He said that in 2022 he received 310 complaints regarding health and social protection, while this year there are 49 complaints of this nature.

Mr. Qelaj said that based on complaints and investigated cases, it was found that there was a lack of regular supplies of essential drugs, medical products and equipment as well as consumables, as well as continued long waits for patients to perform some types of interventions. Also of concern has continued to be the departure of health professionals.

He said that the Law on health insurance is not being implemented while the international convention on economic, social and cultural rights is still not part of the Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo.

He also reiterated that palliative care in the Republic of Kosovo has not yet been operationalized, as well as the Health Information System (HIS), which started in 2002, has not yet been set up and as a result we have an incomplete and non-functional HIS.

The Ombudsperson informed the participants with some data from a round table discussion organized by the Ombudsperson’s Institution that was related to the collection and reporting of data in the health sector. The conclusions that emerged from this roundtable revealed ongoing problems with data collection and reporting in the health sector.

From this roundtable it was concluded that the data in question are not complete, are insufficient, sometimes partial or even unclear, as well as some of them are not compatible with the methodology and criteria used by the Statistics Agency of Kosovo, which are necessary to be considered valid, reliable and comparable.

The Ombudsman said that at the end of December 2022, he addressed to the responsible authorities the report on rights in Sexual and Reproductive Health (ShSR) in the Republic of Kosovo.

This report has found problems that the health system has, such as: insufficient medical staff and not sufficiently prepared to respond to the best standards for dignified and quality services; lack of sufficient health budget, including lack of health insurance.

The investigation also highlighted that although there is a legal basis and the structure and mechanisms in accordance with this legal basis, the anomalies in the operation and the lack of coordination and planning are numerous.

Privacy and confidentiality are poorly respected by professionals with impunity, which not only violates human rights to privacy, but also acts as a disincentive to seeking services from licensed professionals.