Health & Pharmacies

You have the option of either obtaining prescription or non-prescription (over-the counter) when purchasing medication along with medical expert advice at all pharmacies in Albania. However, it is highly recommended that you first collect a doctor’s prescription for medication regarding the type of medicine and dosage when sending it to the pharmacy.

Typically, the pharmacies’ working hours are Monday through Friday 9:00AM to 6:00PM and usually half of the schedule (until 1:00PM) on Saturdays whereas almost always closed on Sundays. Nevertheless, there are certain pharmacies, usually those near hospitals and health centers, whose availability is not so limited and as they are open in most hours of the day including weekends.

Dentistry is one of the most commonly known Albania medical services, especially by European foreigners. Why you ask. Well, understanding that prices are outrageously high western countries, including all over Europe, Albania has many known dentists that do the same job, only for much cheaper. Therefore Albania has a lot of foreigners that do their dental work here rather than in any other country.

Albania’s Public Health Institute was founded in 1935 and has evolved to take primary responsibility of public health in the country. The mission of PHI is to prevent and control disease, injury, disability, and health damaging environmental factors in Albania. PHI, in close cooperation with other organizaitons is also responsible for the development of health promotion and education programs.

PHI :

  • Surveillance
  • Identification and monitoring of health risks.
  • Health educational and public health promotion
  • Data driven policy
  • Public health human resource training.
  • Research

Some of their centers include:

  • National Center For Research / Study In Public Health;
  • National Centre For Training In Public Health;
  • National Technical Center Of Expertise In Public Health;
  • National Reference Center On Public Health;
  • National Operations Center In Public Health;
  • National Center Of Quality Control And Safety Of The Public Health Laboratory