Kosovars Find COVID-19 Treatment an Expensive Affair

"I have to purchase most of the drugs myself, apart for some antibiotics, and then cover my own travel expenses and everything else," he notes, adding that the expenses have topped 500 euros so far, over eight days.

In addition to paying for his father's medication, his financial situation has been further damaged by the fact that he cannot work as a taxi driver - the only source of income for his family of five.

"Apart from the expenses for my father, I am not able to do my work, and my whole family depends on my job," he says.

"My financial situation is not good at all. Even if I now work for two months, I won't compensate for the losses of one week," he adds.

"I have to go into debt now, because I cannot leave my father to die because of a lack drugs."

A few meters away, in the same courtyard, Greta Dervisholli, from Fushe Kosove, has the same dilemma.

Her grandmother is in the hospital, and she is worried because her health is now deteriorating, after 11 days.

"Her condition is serious today. But there are no free beds in the ICU ward; the doctors say they have no other choice because of the number of cases," Dervisholli says.

Like Shala, she and her relatives are forced to sit in front of the clinic for hours a day, because they often have to go and get drugs for her grandmother.

"I have to buy most of the drugs myself. Whenever a doctor prescribes any drugs, and they're not provided by the hospital, I have to buy them. Also, every time they change it, [the medication], I have to buy that myself as well," Dervisholli says.

According to her, even essential drugs are in short supply. "The cannula needles, for example, are injected only once, then have to be changed every six hours. They [the...

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