Rrumbullaku L., Theodorakis P., Mantzavinis G., Caca P., Dimoliatis I.
SCOPE:
The scope of this paper is to invastigate the distribution of health manpower, in rural Albania.
AIMS:
The aims of the paper are to identify the distribution of health manpower and
in the districts of Albania and to analyze the impact of socioeconomic indicators
on those distributions.
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE WORK:
A MEDLINE search found no relevant literature on the subject.
MAJOR RESULTS and OBSERVATIONS:
The geographical distribution of physicians in the districts of Albania has
several interesting characteristics: ratio of physicians per 1.000 inhabitants
is less in poorer, rural, north-east and central mountainous districts of Albania
(ranging from 0.7 to 0.9/ 1,000) compared to that of richer, urban, south-west
and coastal districts (ranging from 1.0 to 1.2). In the capital city of Albania,
Tirana the ratio is 3.9, while in the rural district of Tirana it is 0.1. One
of the factors related to the shortage of health manpower in rural regions is
the process of internal as well as external "brain drain" which
has been going on in Albania since the opening of the borders (1991), due to
the medical personnel's poor motivation caused by the lack of financial
and educational opportunities.
CONCLUSIONS:
Policy makers should take under consideration the results of this work, due
to the enduring rural distribution (65%), positive nativity rate and resulting
youthfulness (19%≤14 years, 53%<25 years, 5%>65 years) of the population,
that are unique and an actual resource for Europe. Furthermore, redistribution
of health manpower and financial and educational motivation should be of highest
priority.