The first cases of COVID-19 were detected in Kosovo in mid-March 2020. Since then, the pandemic has cost more than 3,000 lives and disrupted livelihoods across the country, with businesses closed and jobs lost.
“In my family we had members who were ill with COVID, and this was a psychological trauma for us as a family, but it also damaged us financially,” said Shaban Halimi, a retiree.
Although government institutions moved to implement preventive measures, Kosovo’s hospitals were ill-prepared to respond to the health crisis that ensued. Facilities across the country lacked sufficient oxygen supplies, ventilators, hospital beds, staff, and protective equipment for doctors and nurses.
“With the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, we were facing a dire situation, as our hospitals filled quickly and our capacities in human resources and necessary infrastructure were limited,” emphasized Arben Vishaj, Director of the Infective Diseases Clinic of the Kosovo University Clinical Center. Kosovo’s capacity to detect the spread of the virus was also constrained in those early months. Only the National Institute of Public Health initially had RT-PCR testing machines for COVID-19, and its staff could conduct fewer than 100 tests per day. And no testing capacity existed outside the capital of Prishtina.
To help the country cope with the immediate impact of the pandemic, the World Bank restructured an existing health-related program and mobilized additional support through the EUR 46 million Kosovo Emergency COVID-19 Project. This financing allowed for rapid procurement of medical equipment and supplies, the strengthening of COVID-19 testing and early detection capacity, and improvements to the country’s Infectious Disease Clinic. The project also provided critical support in the country’s COVID-19 response by allocating funding for training staff and contracting over 300 additional health workers. And once available, the World Bank provided EUR 15 million to purchase and deploy COVID-19 vaccines—funds that contributed directly to the Government of Kosovo’s goal of vaccinating 60% of the population by the end of 2021.
“It was the World Bank’s support which made possible for the equipment, the different oxygen masks for patients and the protective clothes for us—the medical staff who were going through a difficult time,” said Donjetë Krasniqi, a nurse at the Infectious Diseases Clinic.
“In addition to high flow nasal cannulas, the monitors we got also helped as they made it possible to follow patients' vitals, as well as the gas analyzer that helped us in serious clinical cases,” emphasized Musa Hoxha, Director of the Pulmonology Clinic of the Kosovo University Clinical Center. “With this equipment the work in the Pulmonology Clinic was made a lot easier and the treatment of patients much more efficient.”
Beyond new equipment, the project boosted Kosovo's testing capacity. RT-PCR testing is not as challenging now as it was two years ago, with tests done every day and results received within 24 hours or even sooner. “This is a great achievement because only about a year ago it was difficult to imagine that regional public health centers will have PCR testing capacity since Kosovo’s budget capacity was very limited and we had difficulties in running even a small molecular lab here in Prishtina,” said Xhevat Jakupi, Director of the National Public Health Institute.
The World Bank-financed project bolstered facilities across the country. All six regional hospitals in Kosovo obtained PCR kits and machines, which allowed for more tests and shorter processing times. The testing center in the city of Gjakova, for example, ramped up the number of tests to 300 per day.
“After we got the PCR equipment, we could process all the samples that formerly would have been transported to the National Institute of Public Health (in Pristina), and this was considerably faster, with results usually registered the same day,” said Safete Kamberi, microbiology specialist and director of the Gjakova Regional Center of the National Institute of Public Health.
The regional hospitals also procured other much needed medical equipment. For the first time the Ferizaj hospital now has a CT scanner. The hospital also received a mammograph and an echocardiography machine. According to the hospital’s doctors, in addition to treating other pathologies, the CT machine was crucial in treating patients for COVID-19.
With the World Bank’s support, Kosovo has been able to better protect medical workers and detect, prevent, and respond to the spread of COVID-19—helping to save lives during this unprecedented crisis.
