Health insurance and medical care

• Public primary care is provided at health centres (qendra shëndetësore) where you live. That’s where family doctors work.
• Each region has a regional hospital with an emergency department (urgjenca). The largest public centre is the “Nënë Tereza” University Hospital Centre (QSUT) in Tirana.
• Private hospitals and clinics exist in all major cities, the largest in Tirana. They are faster and often have English-speaking staff, but without a policy you pay the full price for visits and tests.
• Ukrainian insurance and the NHSU (Ukraine’s National Health Service) medical guarantee programme do not apply in Albania. Plan your cover here: public FSDKSH, a private policy, or both.

• Family reunification

  Article 41 of Law № 79/2021: health insurance for yourself and the family members you are inviting.

• Digital nomad

  Article 68: a health insurance policy valid for at least 1 year.

• Permanent residence

  Article 87: insurance in the Albanian state system — the same as for Albanian citizens.

• Other grounds

  The document list depends on the ground. Check it on e-albania.al for your application and confirm with the border and migration directorate.

• If you work in Albania on an employment contract, your employer pays the contributions together with social security. You don’t need to arrange anything separately.
• Self-employed people pay contributions themselves: 3.4% of twice the minimum wage.
• People the law does not insure compulsorily can join voluntarily: sign a contract with the fund and pay contributions themselves (Article 5 of Law № 10383/2011).
• The voluntary contribution is 3.4% of twice the minimum wage. From 1 January 2026 the minimum wage is 50 000 LEK, so it comes to roughly 3 400 LEK a month. The fund will give you the exact amount.
• You become entitled to services 6 months after registering and paying the contribution. If you register more than 3 months after your previous insurance ended, the wait is a year.
• For a foreigner, the health insurance number is the residence permit number, so you cannot join without a residence permit. Whether you can join voluntarily on your permit ground — check with the regional FSDKSH branch.

What it covers

• Family doctor visits
• Tests in public facilities
• Treatment in public hospitals
• Medicines on the reimbursed list

You see a specialist with a referral from your family doctor. Without a referral the visit may be charged. Procedure — on the FSDKSH website.

• Law № 147/2014 guarantees free emergency care to people in a life-threatening condition. This applies both to Albanian citizens and to foreigners who live here or are just passing through.
• Even without insurance, the fund pays for emergency care, a family doctor visit and the state preventive check-up programme (Article 12 of Law № 10383/2011).
• Emergency departments at regional hospitals are open 24/7. Follow-up examinations or tests after emergency care will most likely have to be paid for if you are uninsured.
• Carry your passport or residence permit card and, if you have one, your policy: the hospital will ask for ID.

1. 1Register your address and get a residence permit: the permit number is used as your health insurance number.
2. 2Go to your area’s health centre (qendra shëndetësore) with your passport and residence permit card and ask to be registered with a family doctor (mjeku i familjes).
3. 3From then on, the family doctor refers you to specialists and for tests and issues e-prescriptions for reimbursed medicines.
4. 4You can also book appointments and view prescriptions via e-albania.al if you have an account.

• A pharmacy is a FARMACI. There is one in almost every neighbourhood, and some are open 24 hours.
• Reimbursed medicines under public insurance are dispensed only with a family doctor’s e-prescription, at pharmacies contracted with FSDKSH.
• Note the active ingredient (the international name, in Latin script), not just the Ukrainian brand name: the same medicine is often sold under a different name in Albania.
• Buy antibiotics and prescription drugs only as prescribed by a doctor, even if a pharmacy is willing to sell them without a prescription.

• Law № 10383/2011 lists children under 18 among the groups whose contributions are paid by the state. Whether this extends to a foreign child with a residence permit — check with the health centre or FSDKSH.
• Vaccinations are given at the local health centre according to the Albanian vaccination schedule. Bring your child’s Ukrainian vaccination record so the doctor can see what has already been done.
• Children’s hospital, emergency care and pharmacies in Durrës — Durrës hospitals and services; family life in the city — Durrës with kids.
• Hospitals in other cities — hospital directory.