Investigation/ The affair with medical oxygen deepens in Albania

2024-11-22 14:13:00, Denoncim CNA

Investigation/ The affair with medical oxygen deepens in Albania

Illustrative photo

CNA has reported and investigated a short time ago, on October 10, 2024, a very problematic and sensitive issue regarding oxygen for patients, for hospitals in Albania.

According to the data that we were able to obtain officially from the government in North Macedonia and from the government of Kosovo, it turned out that the price of oxygen coming to Albanian hospitals was three times more expensive. ( READ HERE )

The price of oxygen in Kosovo

Oxygen price for North Macedonia

Oxygen for medical use with 99.5% purity

In fact, according to the materials that we had at that time, all this was due to the monopoly in the market, due to the control that one or two companies had in agreement with each other.

It should have been the Competition Authority that intervened, perhaps the Ministry of Health itself, which gave us a full report on the price, the procedure followed, which in fact, did not seem to be problematic.

Answer back to CNA, the figures in the documents, the price of oxygen for Albania

But what have we been able to discover further? Why is the price more expensive? Why does the Albanian government pay more than the government of Kosovo or North Macedonia?

Beyond the monopoly, we were able to secure some customs practices, confidential, which we are ready to put before the competent authorities, which show us that the company "Messer" has built a sister company "Messer Albagaz", thus setting up a complete scheme that goes to monopoly, to price increases, to market control, to everything.

We have been able to provide some invoices, which show us that for the same amount of oxygen, which is liquid oxygen or medical liquid oxygen, for the same amount, the prices are much higher. So, a scheme between mother and daughter.

Why do Albanians have to pay 3-4 times more for oxygen?
October 15, 14:09

WHAT DOES THIS SCHEME MEAN?

The scheme clearly shows that in Albania the nurse must declare every year to the National Agency of Medicines, the medical drugs that she brings and according to the Albanian law it is not allowed that the profit for medical products is more than 11%.

BUT WHAT HAPPENED? HOW IS THIS SCHEME MANIPULATED?

When the daughter, that is the company "Messer Albagaz", makes the declarations in Albania, the offer from the mother gets the maximum.

The question arises: What will the queen win?

No need at all, it's quite simple. The profit goes directly to the mother. Mother, for whom we have found bills for the same amount of gas for 2 thousand euros and the bill for the same amount of gas for Albania is 18 thousand euros.

Someone will say, is it the same? Yes. With the same laboratory tests. This is according to the full practices submitted to customs.

Investigation/ How oxygen for patients in Albania is bought 3-4 times more expensive than in the countries of the region
October 10, 18:34

To make it even simpler.

A subsidiary company receives the most expensive offer from the parent company and all the money goes abroad, so all the money goes to the mother in Serbia.

Although oxygen is cheaper there. The Albanian state finds it quite simple to see the region, to see Kosovo, to see North Macedonia, to see the customs practices, to see the quantities, the same codes.

Although with the quantities there is another story that CNA will bring in the future, since Albanian hospitals consume oxygen even more than some of the main hospitals in the region, not only because of the number of patients, but also because there are no patients inside Albanian hospitals have a big difference in oxygen consumption.

The scheme is quite simple. Mother and daughter play with the price, create a monopoly market in Albania and do not pay any tax to the Albanian state, since according to the data we received recently, the VAT has also been removed.

MEDICAL OXYGEN IN ALBANIA, AN AFFAIR CASE

Investigation/ The affair with medical oxygen deepens in Albania

Medical oxygen in Albania is a case of an affair, it is a case of scandal, it is a case to prove whether there is corruption, but which is a monopoly with predetermined prices, controlled and managed by companies that play schemes with each other .

This has already been proven by the practices we have in hand. We always talk about the same amount of oxygen at prices 3-4 times more expensive in Albania, which are cheaper in the region.

The Ministry of Health has the duty to at least write a letter to colleagues in the region to understand what is happening. It has the task of controlling the amounts in hospitals and the differences within hospitals in Albania and everything is clear, how the scheme of the oxygen affair works in Albania, for which another term "medical oxygen" has been invented, where in fact it is the same oxygen that is sold to the private sector and the Albanian state has it very simple, it can take the same company and look at the price that brought it to the private sector or how it is marketed in the region to understand how far the madness of abusing oxygen in the Albania./ CNA