Kosovo University Hospital Faces Mounting Patient Waiting Lists

Over 12,000 patients are currently awaiting treatment at Kosovo’s University Clinical Center (UCCK), according to data obtained by Koha. The data, released after a decision by the information and data protection authority, reveals significant backlogs in several key clinics.

The Clinic for cardiology has the largest number of patients on its waiting list – 2,699 individuals needing coronary angiography. Following closely is the Clinic for Orthopedics, with 2,243 patients, nearly 2,000 of whom have been waiting for knee prostheses since 2019.

Additional significant waiting lists exist in:

* Vascular Surgery: 1,635 patients awaiting varicose vein treatment.
* ENT Clinic: 1,025 patients, many needing thyroid or tonsil surgery, with some cases dating back to 2023.

The data, compiled from clinic reports as of the end of June, was released with a four-month delay and may not reflect the current situation. UCCK officials acknowledge that waiting lists are not managed in real-time. They state that data from several clinics and units are still being updated and will be published later.

despite an initial request for complete waiting list data on May 15th, UCCK sought an extension for its publication. Even after a ten-day extension,data for the radiology clinic,the nuclear medicine clinic,and seven general hospitals remained unavailable.These facilities have waiting lists for services including MRI, CT, and PET scans.

The Patient Association of Kosovo has voiced concerns that the lack of obvious waiting list management creates opportunities for abuse within UCCK.

“The lack of openness of the waiting lists for patients is a source of great corruption,” says a representative from the association. “I believe that there is a lot of profit by not providing any information about who is on the waiting list, how long the queue is and how long the patients have for the respective treatment.”

The association also alleges internal list manipulation within UCCK, questioning whether updated lists even exist. Each clinic reportedly manages its own list independently.