Author: Ina Allkanjari
" I gave birth to Amaris in a private hospital a few months ago, after we had planned the follow-up and birth of the child together with my husband from the beginning of the pregnancy. I do not understand why when the birth takes place in a private hospital, the baby basket is not benefited. Giving birth in a private hospital is not a luxury, since even the follow-up of the pregnancy for months and the birth in a state maternity hospital also has many expenses ," writes Ana, the mother of a baby who is several months old, for "Sinjalizo". What the young mother signals is related to the right of parents to win the "Baby Basket", which three years ago replaced the bonus of 5000 new lek, which benefited every newborn, who had one of the parents permanently residing in the capital. But since February 2020, when this decision was approved by the Tirana Municipal Council, thousands of parents who have chosen to give birth in a private institution have not benefited from the "Baby Basket". In a decision bearing number 6, dated February 5, 2020, it is specified that the beneficiaries of the basket are newborns in the public maternity hospitals "Mbretëresha Geraldine" and "Koço Glozheni".
Tirana Municipality reduces the bonus for newborn babies
Since the decision to remove the bonus of 5 new lek, and replace it with the baby basket, two tenders have been held for their purchase, where the same company is the winner.
In the first tender with the procuring institution Tirana Local Government, which was held in August 2020 with the "Baby's Basket" tender object, the value of the limit fund is around ALL 37 million. This tender results in OpenProcurment Albania with a Red Flag, which means the disqualification of all competing operators except the winner. With a contract duration for a period of 1 year, the standard tender documents show that 9 thousand baskets are planned to be distributed, so it turns out that the value of one basket is about 4000 thousand ALL.
In the second tender held in July 2022, the value of the limit fund appears much lower, specifically around 25 million lekë. Again, this tender appears with a Red Flag at Open Procurement, this time in the absence of competition, i.e. with a single competitor who is the winning company. The duration of the contract is 12 months. Meanwhile, the material basis for a “Baby Basket” specified in the tender is: 1 Pack of Disposable Diapers; 1 Glass Bottle with Baby Bottle; 1 Baby Shampoo; 1 Pack of Wet Baby Wipes; 1 Baby Cream with Vitamins ; 1 Moisturizing Body Oil; 1 Fake Baby Bottle; 1 Plush Toy; 1 A Publication on Child Care in the First Years of Life.
What is noticed is that in the standard documents of the tender, the number of baskets provided for distribution is 3 thousand less compared to the last tender, so in total only 6 thousand baskets will be given for 12 months.
To find out why the value of the winning tender for the 'Baby Basket' for 2022 and the number of baskets predicted is lower than that of 2020; what is the cost of each product for a basket; what is the total number of newborn babies registered in Tirana municipality for 2022 and what is the reason that children living in Tirana, who are born in private hospitals do not benefit from the baby basket, "Sinjalizo" requested information from Tirana Municipality. However, as of the publication of this article, we still have no answer.
Aids for newborns, insufficient
The Chief of Pediatric Nephrology Diamant Shtiza, asked by "Sinjalizo" what newborn babies need most and how much the baby basket helps new mothers, shows that every step is taken for the better, but the current aids are insufficient.
" We still cannot compare ourselves to highly developed countries, and every step taken is seen as a step towards improvement. Normally, even if the sum of 5000 lek and the basket were offered at the same time, they would not be enough. These are the opportunities that Albania offers, continuous support is needed, but we hope that the attention paid to newborns by state authorities will continue to increase ," said the pediatrician.
"Baby basket" unusable by new mothers
"I have hardly used any of the products from the "Baby Basket" offered by the municipality. This is because I have been shopping at the same company repeatedly and I noticed that the products in the basket were the cheapest ones that this company offers," Sabina, the mother of a 1-year-old girl from Tirana, tells 'Sinjalizo'.
The 30-year-old woman says that for many new mothers, financial support would be of greater help than baskets, since in this way they will be able to choose the necessary products for their babies.
"I never used the baby wipes in the basket, nor the body cream or oil. I have been using shampoo since my daughter was one year old. In the meantime, I used the glass bottle to warm the milk, but when I fed my daughter, I switched to another bottle more suitable for a newborn," Sabina emphasizes.
Meanwhile, Elena, who gave birth to her daughter near Tirana's maternity hospital 2 years ago, shares a bad experience with the products of the municipality's basket.
"I became a mother in 2020, when it was just a few months since the amount of 5000 lek was replaced with the baby basket. To be honest, I initially used the baby products that were in the basket for my daughter, but I only used them once because they caused allergies and the acne created on the daughter was very difficult to remove," the young woman tells 'Sinjalizo', emphasizing that after going through this experience, she was afraid to use the other products contained in the basket.
Alketa, another resident of the capital, says that two months ago she became a mother for the second time after giving birth to her son Noel. She is one of the beneficiaries of the "Baby Basket" from Tirana Municipality.
"I can't say they were a help to me. In the basket we received from the municipality there was a package of baby wipes, which had 20 pieces and you can imagine how quickly they ran out," says the young mother.
Baby bonus
The "baby bonus", a financial stimulus that the government began to give at the beginning of 2019 to encourage births, is not giving results in increasing the birth rate in the country, as the data shows that the benefits are going mostly to the children of immigrants born abroad.
In the first days of December, Prime Minister Edi Rama announced through a post on social networks that the baby bonus has gone to the parents of more than 36 newborns this year.
But according to INSTAT data, where only the number of births of residents in Albania is reported, based on the data of the General Directorate of Civil Status, this figure is much lower, which shows that a large part of the births published by the prime minister are not residents of our country.
Specifically, according to the analyzed data, it results that during the first 9 months of 2022, a total of 17 newborns were born throughout the country.
Last year, 27.284 babies were born across the country, with a 2.8 percent decrease compared to 2020.
Sociologist Gëzim Tushi tells "Sinjalizo" that in the entire history of this country, the aging process of the population has never been at such critical levels as a result of the decrease in birth rate but also of other factors.
"It is enough to remember the history of this country, from 6 children per woman that Albanian society had in the 60s, it reached 2.3 children per woman in the 90s, and since the change of systems, the process has continued to decline and now we have reached 1.3 children per woman ," says the sociologist, while emphasizing that if before the 90s we had about 1 million and 400 thousand children of pre-university school age, now we have about 400-450 thousand children of school age.
Government decision
Through a Decision of the Council of Ministers that entered into force on January 1, 2019, mothers and babies would receive a check before leaving the hospital, the value of which depended on the order of the child. Thus, according to the VKM, the first child benefits 40.000 lek, the second child 80.000 lek and the third child 120.000 lek. In January 2019, the Government's new social policy supporting young families began to be implemented, which is provided to every family, regardless of socio-economic status.
All Albanian citizen parents have the right to secure this reward for babies born inside or outside the country. Likewise, parents with other citizenships who are legal residents of the Republic of Albania and decide to give the baby Albanian citizenship, according to the law on Albanian citizenship, also benefit from this financial support and register it as an Albanian citizen in the National Register of Civil Status .
The main causes of the decline in the number of births
According to the sociologist Gëzim Tushi, there are several causes that have influenced the decline in birth rates in the country, among which he mentions the cultural component related to the emancipation of society, the decline in the number of marriages; the increase in the number of divorces, which reached 30%; as well as increasing the number of families with one child.
" The concept of a family with one child, or as it is called in sociology, the "trophy" child, is one of the components of the decline in fertility. So you can't have many children because you can't afford to raise them, educate them, because today we are talking about elite children. Children today have demands for financing, education, welfare, etc., and this has led couples to bring one child into life and focus on them," the sociologist says.
Asked what could be some ways that would offer solutions to the situation and encourage the birth rate, Tushi indicates that it is not the state that can influence the increase in birth rate directly. But according to him, the state has the opportunity to indirectly build policies that favor and promote fertility.
"Favourable policies should be offered to mothers who give birth, from maternity leave, other financial benefits, to the bonus they give for the birth of a child of 40000, 80000 and 120000 lek for the first, second and third child, which is extremely low, as I don't believe that anyone will bring a child into life because they will receive this amount of lek ," says Tushi.
According to the sociologist, we are still not one of the oldest populations in Europe, as the average age is 38 years old, but we have one of the highest rates of aging, so it is important to pay attention to the promotion of fertility in the country.
