Private pharmacies now under control The Government’s decision aims for a balance between the two markets New prices for some medicines in state pharmacies Aspirin 1 tablet 0.5 lekë Paracetamol 1 tablet 0.9 lekë Analgin 1 tablet 1.2 lekë Adalat 1 tablet 0.4 lekë Propanolol 1 tablet 0.5 lekë Penicillin 1 ampoule 9 lekë Gentamicin 1 ampoule 12 lekë Streptomycin 1 vial 10 lekë Kanamycin 1 vial 40 lekë Metmorphine 1 tablet 0.5 lekë Ampicillin 1 tablet 2.5 lekë New prices for some medicines in private pharmacies Aspirin 1 tablet 6 lekë Paracetamol 1 tablet 1.5/3 lekë Analgin 1 tablet 2.5/3 lekë Adalat 1 tablet 1.5/19 lekë Propanolol 1 tablet 1/10 lekë Penicillin 1 ampoule 29/32 lekë Gentamicin 1 ampoule 25/30 lekë Streptomycin 1 vial 25/32 lekë Kanamycin 1 vial 40/80 lekë Metmorphine 1 tablet 4/8 lekë Ampicillin 1 tablet 6/8 lekë TIRANA — New medicine prices in Albania. To avoid this, medicines in the state pharmacy cost more. The decision taken by the Council of Ministers aims to bring the medicines market closer to balance too, where the differences between state and private — as can be seen in the table above — remain extremely marked. This goal will also be served by setting ceiling prices for private pharmacies. "The increase in medicines in state pharmacies has been made massively by 100 percent, but this varies depending on the type," Besnik Bruçi, a specialist in the Pharmaceutical Directorate at the Ministry of Health, tells Gazeta Shqiptare — although these prices are still far from their real value and the state will continue to subsidize them. But this increase has not been very "felt" by customers, and for a very simple reason: state pharmacies have left all of Albania in the dark with barely 300 of them — they currently have a very limited number of medicines. Meanwhile, they freely go to private pharmacies, which currently manage to meet various demands for medicines. For this very reason, prices are very high. "This is true," Alush Lezha, director of the company Italfarma, culetka S.P.A., declares to Gazeta Shqiptare — but we also buy medicines very expensively. However, our premises are always full. In many cases it is partly the shortage of medicines in state pharmacies that pushes people to buy from private ones. "We will buy them at high prices not because we are crazy," says a group of people in one of the private pharmacies in the capital to Gazeta Shqiptare, "but because we never find them." And there are no shortage of cases where someone leaves one pharmacy for another in the hope of finding cheaper medicine. "It happens that people ask about the price and leave because it is high," a female employee tells Gazeta Shqiptare. The pharmacist In.Co — thus is the case of a parent who, with a sick child in his arms, did not buy the medicine because it was too expensive for him. To ease some of these prices — at a time when medicine imports were exempt from customs taxes — a Government decision has set a ceiling level. Henceforth they will be 15 percent lower than the CIF prices of the goods, for those who trade them wholesale, and 25 percent for those who trade them retail. The private sector, however, does not seem to agree easily with this decision. "If that is the case, I will be forced not to bring many medicines," says Lezha, "because I will not be able to cover the costs. We currently apply only a 35 percent markup on the purchase price." The opinion of the Ministry specialists is the opposite: "We aim to regulate market stability," explains Vigan Saliasi, Director in the Pharmaceutical Directorate, to Gazeta Shqiptare — pharmacies should not be considered merely a means of profit. In many cases the price applied in private units has been almost 300 percent. But soon pharmacies will also have a law that is intended to regulate and discipline relations both in production and in the control of medicine trade. Armand Mero

Municipal Council: "We will examine the request" Elbasan, a dramatic offer from a mother ELBASAN — For the first time in Albania, parents are publicly putting their children up for sale. Through a harrowing letter sent to the address of the local newspaper in Elbasan, the Mukaj parents had declared that they were ready to sell one of their five little children in order to provide for the upbringing of the other four. Although their tragic outcry could not remain unheard, this kind of move — the Development Municipal Council, a local forum that decides on social support or assistance — may change everything; putting the Mukaj family on this list would perhaps force them to give up the terrible idea of auctioning off the child. "Because the sewing machine is broken and the house is on fire, I have nothing left to sell in order to buy bread," says Mrs. Mukaj, the mother of five little children — now I am even ready to sell the apartment, just to save my children from hunger. The choice to sell one of the children is extremely painful for a mother, but... The thought of selling a child had been born precisely at the beginning of 1994. Just a few days earlier, the Municipal Council of the city — meeting in session — had, according to the decision of 31.12.1993, envisaged the abolition of social assistance for families in good economic condition, for families that have a family member abroad and those that have a car — and had also approved the withdrawal of social assistance for the Mukaj family. "The aid was interrupted without any warning," explains to Gazeta Shqiptare Alush Mukaj, father of the five little children — meanwhile my car has not existed for two years. According to the Mukaj parents — residents of the "Çlirimi" neighborhood of Elbasan — they have been without work for two years. "We had advised them to complete the documents once again," explains to Gazeta Shqiptare Valter Puka, representative of the Municipal Council for Development — meanwhile it is confirmed that they must wait for the Municipal Council to examine this request. According to Puka, all this story came about because of inaccuracies in the documents. "The Government's decision to stop social assistance for families classified as 'in good economic condition' has led to many abuses," says Zenep Mukaj — this is because there is no measuring salon for such things and they must be determined according to the opinions of the representatives of the Municipal Council. The assessment of families' assets has now become a subject in itself. "It is not logical to help a family," replies Puka, "for example one that has a colour TV or even a satellite antenna, even if the latter is a gift." In any case, the Mukaj family has now decided to give away one of their children. The alternatives that might oppose this "fate" are unfortunately only a few: either a beggar's sack, or a decision by the Municipal Council to grant social support. Until then, the five little Mukaj children, aged from 3 to 13, will continue to look each other in the eye, not knowing which of them may be the real "savior". In the photo Zenep Mukaj caressing her own. Thus, apart from it will be bought [?] Mentor Kikia

TIRANA — Customs and its activity over these last 13 months was one of the main points of the latest meeting of the Council of Ministers. It was its Director General who presented a detailed report on the activity of this important control body. From this report it was noted — as a result of shortcomings in its work — that for 1993 Customs had ended up in deficit. During this meeting the Government also approved the draft law "On the Advocacy of the Republic" in its field "On the fiscal system in the hydrocarbon sector" as well as the draft decision on granting daily allowances to those who work away from their place of residence.

After 13 months, once again without parents TIRANA — After living for 13 months with the parents who had adopted her, the National Adoption Committee orders the child to be returned to the Tirana Befotrof. This rare case was linked to the beginnings of the movements in Albania. It was as if it had fallen (?) at the beginning of 1993. The Adoption Committee forced it to be returned to the Befotrof. But after this decision by the National Adoption Committee, controversy also arose. "I have not yet returned the girl who lived for 13 months with her adoptive parents to the institution," Lazër Luli, director of the Tirana Befotrof, tells Gazeta Shqiptare — "the point is that the bond between parents and child is very high in this case. As a summarized social-care job for the child." But this is not the only case. For two other similar adoptions, a review with precedents has also been requested by the Commission, because according to it — the children are now unable to live even with one another. These adoptions harm children psychologically and in a certain way do not even belong in the Befotrof. As for foreign adoptions, Albanian ones are out of the center. Albania — in fact — cannot even justify its own criterion for small children. According to her, under this arrangement biological parents have no right to request in any way the return of children who have reached 6. This will eliminate their stress and the psychology of being different from the others," Stylla justifies this reason.

TIRANA — On Saturday another millionaire in Tirana won the Totofutbolli competition. This time the slip with number 0345010 was bought in the capital — it is the only ticket with 12 points. Thus the winner, with a stake of 12 lekë, benefited from the luck of the capital and won 10 thousand dollars, or 1,036,693 lekë, within one day. "The winner belongs to the category of people who buy few slips, at most up to five," Pëllumb Dilaveri, Director of the Llotosport Center in Tirana, explains to Gazeta Shqiptare — "meanwhile the amount at his disposal this time represented an absolute record". (ë)

Trial ends: three years in prison for fraud TIRANA — Since 13 October — when his trial had begun — he had declared that his brothers were the guilty ones, not him. On Monday, after two months of court hearings in which more than 300 defrauded people testified, Fatmir Koçi was sentenced by the Tirana Court to three years in prison, on the charge of "fraud committed in cooperation". Facing Koçi — one of the first capitalists in Albania — there is now also the civil obligation that he must return, an amount equal to 400 thousand dollars. "Taking advantage" of the time of witnesses and prison cells "Fatmir" was calm, but the punishment was severe for those who were in Albania, meanwhile for Albanian justice. The process against Fatmir Koçi was based on and burdened by the evidence of the law itself. According to the suggestions of years, a considerable amount of foreign currency had been taken, which must be returned in the form of a note. Yet in truth he had remained in Vienna after this was intervened by Olyfika. Tirana Court

"At least believe me, I am innocent" A young Albanian prisoner writes to his parents EDMOND LACI TIRANA — The postage fees have not ended for a letter for an Albanian in Italy. His letters arrived at the family in Tirana. The Albanian lines, written with many spelling mistakes, crossed the Adriatic together with three and greve(?) with struggle this for Delsi T l'ujer (?) to force the directors of Bari Prison to give the letter envelope. The clandestine prison letter has finally arrived at the Vogli family in Tirana. "With all this for you, that I am exhausted and that I have brought you so many worries," Delsi writes to his parents — "but at least you must believe me that I am innocent." The young Albanian had been arrested together with 17 other companions, who were accused by the Italian authorities of — by cooperating in a group for a long time — robbing sleeping train passengers to steal their money. Now for Delsi — apparently in the process with Italy — the most important thing is the "trial" with his family. For him that is a little more important, while this is too innocent to defend and to help. The letter of enclosed suffering shows how he ends. Bari Prison

The Serbs give up on the siege of Sarajevo No attack for now ON PAGE 2 Tobacco, a habit Hard to give up The test will show whether you are dependent on it ON PAGE 3

IN ELBASAN ABOUT 7 MILLION DOLLARS INVESTED BY FOREIGNERS — The amount of capital invested by foreign arrivals in the district of Elbasan is 470.7 million dollars. More than 70 percent of this sum has been invested in the production sector. Currently, 15 foreign businessmen operate in this district and several joint ventures have been created, such as the factories in the Wood Combine, the Tobacco Plant and several fuel stations. LAND TITLES IN THE DISTRICT OF POGRADEC — 9,000 land titles have been distributed in Pogradec out of the 10,700 that the entire district should have. Thus, the land division work is still moving toward completion. This also opens the way for the creation of houses and the new cadastral document. LARGE PROFITS FOR INSIG IN DURRËS TOO — Visible profits for INSIG's branch in Durrës. During 1993 alone this branch achieved a net profit of 109 million lekë. The main source of this income was the 12,000 vehicles for which INSIG signed insurance contracts. With the profits achieved, the company aims to invest in building housing or different insurance plates for vehicles. 25 TONS OF RICE BLOCKED — It was 25 tons of rice that were blocked this time by Sanitary inspectors in Gjirokastër. This quantity was blocked in the market before the laboratory response to the analyses had been received. It is suspected that this rice does not meet the necessary elements to be used as food for people. In fact, just a week earlier in Gjirokastër, several large quantities of chickens were also blocked. They had turned out to be infected with salmonella.