TIRANA: Albania, one of the poorest countries in Europe,flew a team of doctors and nurses to neighboring Italy on Saturday to help itdeal with the coronavirus pandemic as its own cases have yet to strain thehealth sector. Prime Minister Edi Rama’s government assigned 11 million leke($95,000) to pay the team of 30 medical staff, who volunteered, to work for amonth in the area of Bergamo, the official gazette said.
The Italian Embassy in Tirana confirmed the plane had leftin mid-afternoon carrying the medical team, adding in a Twitter message; "Thanksto the Albanian government for this act of solidarity and affection! #forever united”. Albania has 197 cases ofthe illness, with 10 deaths. Italy has more than 86,000 cases, and its deathtoll of more than 9,000 is the highest in the world. Bergamo is the worst hitarea. Italy has helped Albania since itfaced a number of crisis after toppling communism in the late 1980s, includingrisk of famine in the early 1990s and anarchy in 1997. Tirana sees the medicalaid as a chance to repay the favors, however small its contribution.
Some 400,000 Albanians live and work in Italy, sending moneyhome to their families as well as investing savings and expertise gained thereto build businesses back home. Albania has seen the strain on Italy’s moreadvanced health system as a stark warning and has imposed increasingly strictrestrictions on social contact on its citizens. — Reuters