After the car accident I’m usually a “speed freak” I earn 18,000 lekë a month. Besides, when I go abroad, instead of blowing that money in some bar, I save it. I read the newspaper “Koha Jonë” and am convinced that you are one of the most destructive publications this century could have. Exclusive interview with Deputy Prime Minister BASHKIM KOPLIKU from the hospital pages 5–6 Photo: A. BABANI

Elbasan Cholera claims lives again Two more people admitted After a pause of several days and the discharge of the first three patients admitted to the district infectious diseases hospital after being infected with the cholera vibrio, it seemed that this frightening disease would leave the city of Elbasan sooner than it had arrived. The director of the hygiene institute had even assured the newspaper “Lajmi i ditës”: “There is no longer an epidemiological situation in Albania.” Strangely enough, two days ago the official confirmation gave its “approval” for the discharge of two cholera patients, despite never having acknowledged that they had been hospitalized. But cholera will not be “moved” by officials unwilling to tarnish the image of their positions, who tried to keep secret the death of a 53-year-old patient. Fadile Coga, from the village of Shushicë, will be recorded as the first cholera death in the prefecture’s main city. She had been admitted to the infectious diseases ward at Elbasan Hospital nine days earlier, and her treatment had been continuous. For the sake of public opinion, the victim in question did not disclose that she had been ill at home for three days and had been in Librazhd, from where it is suspected the infection may have been imported. Two days after her admission to the infectious diseases ward, her husband was also admitted; he was discharged cured before his wife, but unfortunately she died on the evening of the 28th, Wednesday. According to some unofficial accounts, members of her family took the body, some by force, without allowing experts to carry out the necessary examinations. This happened two days before the wedding was to be held at her home, where she had so hoped and wished to be at the head of the wedding procession. On Thursday morning, specialists from the district hygiene and epidemiology directorate arrived urgently in the village of Shushicë, where the body is expected to be buried. They came perhaps to implement the hygienic and sanitary requirements before burial in deaths of this kind. Following this event, we learn that yesterday morning two more people were admitted to the infectious diseases ward of the Elbasan district hospital, one from Lixha and the other from Tregan, both seriously suspected of having cholera. After these developments, measures at this hospital have been tightened, in addition to those taken by the municipality to prevent the disease. BESIM DYBELI

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The typhoid epidemic is also a consequence of the exceptionally unhygienic conditions following the cholera outbreak. So far, ten confirmed cases of typhoid have been admitted to hospital in Durrës, along with several other cases that have not been fully confirmed. The patients are mainly from neighborhoods 5 and 6, where widespread mixing of sewage with drinking water has been observed. Despite the warnings issued long ago by the hygiene directorate and its repeated meetings with the municipality and the water utility, there has still been no concrete action to repair the damaged pipes. Apparently, the reason is a lack of funds. The only (continued on page 2)