Tirana, Albania, January 24, 2019
Photo: romfea.gr One of the first things that His Beatitude Archbishop Anastasios of Tirana and All Albania did upon assuming the primatial throne in 1992 was to create crucial infrastructure for the medical care of Albanians, Orthodox and non-Orthodox alike, writes Fr. Elias Makos in an article posted on Romfea.
In 1994, Abp. Anastasios founded the first Orthodox clinic in Tirana, named in honor of St. Luke the Evangelist, which evolved in 1999 into the state-of-the-art Evangelismos Orthodox Diagnostic Center.
Since then, more than 1.5 million people, irrespective of religion or nationality, have been examined, with a monthly intake of about 6,000.
High-level services are offered in 24 specialty areas with well-equipped laboratories to ensure that the medical treatment offered follows international standards. In 2000, an American general surgeon created an outpatient surgical facility at the Medical Center with a fully-equipped and manned operating room—the first of its kind in Albania.
There are also clinics in other cities and a mobile dental unit offering services, mainly for children, in towns and villages. There are also programs on women’s hygiene and cancer prevention programs, especially in rural areas.
The Church also operates an elderly care center that opened in Tirana on March 19 and a number of social relief efforts, including the “Society of Love” Charity Kitchens, the women’s group “Spreading the Love” that supports and visits person and families in need and the elderly, visits and assistance to those in prison, blood drives, assistance in times of disaster, social, cultural, and educational contributions in Kosovo, and much more.
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