TIRANA – Albania has joined the countries which are helping Italy with medical staff to cope with the coronavirus epidemic which has knelt down the peninsula with thousands of victims and a huge number of infected people surpassing the deadly balance sheet of Wuhan considered as the origin of Covid-10.
A government decision issued on Saturday said that Albania will help Italy with healthcare personnel, doctors and nurses against the backdrop of the pandemics caused by COVID-19.
According to official reports, a team composed of 30 doctors and nurses arrived in Rome on Saturday and its destination is the city of Bergamo worst hit by the plague.
More than 86,000 people have tested positive for the virus in Italy, and the number of new cases is increases daily. Figures reveal that 9,134 people have passed away while the number of those who have recovered amounts to 10,950.
The doctors and nurses will have a monthly wage of 3,000 euro and 2,500 euro respectively, said the announcement on the decision.
International support for Italy has been ramping up in face of the crisis. China, Russia and Cuba have sent medical support to the country, while the local authorities have urged the medical staff from across Italy to go to the worst-hit areas in the country’s north.
A significant number of Albanian doctors and nurses have left their country over the last years in search of better life in European countries over the last years As many as 857 doctors have been admitted in health institutions abroad, mainly in Germany, during the last five years. Unofficial figures say that there are about 3,000 medics working in Europe. Lately there has been a government response to this brain drain increasing the financial support of them, but the trend has not been stopped. The deadly coronavirus epidemic has brought to the surface the sensitive question of shortages in medical staff to face the crisis. /argumentum.al
