Healthcare in Albania: no CAK, the Albanian health fund FSDKSH, a policy for your registration, and 112
Albania is not a treaty country for healthcare: after you emigrate your Dutch basic insurance ends and there is no CAK arrangement. If you work in Albania, you are compulsorily insured with the FSDKSH, the Albanian health fund, for 1.7 percent of your pay. If you do not work, you can join voluntarily for 3,400 lek a month, with a six-month waiting period. To register on your own means you need a health policy in Albania. Outside Tirana, care is limited.
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Albania is not a treaty country for healthcare. The CAK, which arranges care for pensioners in treaty countries, does not list Albania. After you emigrate your Dutch basic insurance ends, and there is no CAK arrangement. In Albania public healthcare runs through the FSDKSH (Fondi i Sigurimit të Detyrueshëm të Kujdesit Shëndetësor), the Albanian health fund. If you work, you are compulsorily insured there. If you do not work, you can join voluntarily, or you choose a private policy.
Who is insured how?
| Situation | Who arranges it | What you pay |
|---|---|---|
| You are employed | the FSDKSH, through your employer | 1.7 % of your pay; your employer also pays 1.7 % |
| You have your own business | the FSDKSH, yourself | 3,400 lek a month (3.4 % of twice the minimum wage) |
| You do not work, for example because you are retired | voluntarily with the FSDKSH, or a private policy | 3,400 lek a month, 40,800 lek a year (about € 450); 6-month waiting period |
| Your children under 18 | the state pays | nothing |
What does the health fund cover?
With the FSDKSH health card you visit the GP, a specialist and the hospital in the public system, and you receive reimbursed medicines. For foreigners, the number of your residence document is your insurance number, the fund says. Which number that is after the new EU registration, ask when you enrol.
What the fund does not cover, such as private clinics and personal contributions, we have not been able to check officially. Expect your own costs as soon as you go outside the public system.
What if you do not work?
The law lets anyone who is not compulsorily insured join voluntarily. The contribution is 3.4 percent of twice the minimum wage: with a minimum wage of 50,000 lek that is 3,400 lek a month. After enrolment and payment a six-month waiting period applies. If your insurance stops, re-enrol within three months; otherwise you wait a year.
Two things are not certain. The law also counts people with "regular income from movable and immovable assets and similar sources" as economically active, and therefore compulsorily insured. Whether a foreign pension falls under that is not stated. And whether the fund uses an annual amount that differs from our calculation, we did not find. Ask the FSDKSH.
Which policy do you need for your registration?
If you register on your own means, the law requires a valid health insurance policy "in the Republic of Albania". Whether an international policy that covers Albania counts, the law does not say. The safest choice is the health fund or an Albanian insurer. Because the fund has a six-month waiting period, an additional private policy for those first months is sensible. See the residence routes to Albania.
How good is the care?
NederlandWereldwijd writes that healthcare in Albania is limited, especially outside Tirana. Not all specialist care is available, not even in private clinics. The largest hospital is the QSUNT, the Mother Teresa university hospital on Rruga e Dibrës in Tirana, with an emergency department. If you live on the coast or inland, know how far that is. A policy that covers transport abroad can be worth a lot.
Whom do you call in an emergency?
The general emergency number 112 also works with a Dutch number. For an ambulance call 127, for the fire brigade 128 and for the police 129, but those three only work with an Albanian number. Emergency services speak little English; keep your address in Albanian to hand.
Why arrange it before you leave?
The CAK writes: if your new country of residence is not on the list, take out health insurance yourself. For Albania this means your policy starts on the day your Dutch insurance ends. How to cancel that without a single uninsured day is explained in cancelling your health insurance without a gap.
If you bring medicines, Albanian customs allows a quantity for at most two months, with a prescription and a declaration. For some psychotropic drugs that is seven or thirty days. See taking medicines across the border.
In Vertrekklaar this is phase 5 of 5 of the journey, step 5.3: the same steps, but for your situation — in your order, tickable, and with the deadlines watched. See the whole journey to Albania or go straight to step 5.3 in the open plan.
What this rests on
The facts in this article come from these official pages. Rules change. When in doubt, go by the source, not this article.
- CAK — the treaty countries for healthcare; Albania is not among them — hetcak.nl
- Ligj 10383/2011 on compulsory health insurance, consolidated — articles 3, 5, 7 and 8 (who must join, voluntary insurance and the contribution) — tatime.gov.al
- FSDKSH — how to get insured, with the insurance number for foreigners — fsdksh.gov.al
- ISSH — the contributions for employees and the self-employed, with the minimum wage of 50,000 lek — issh.gov.al
- Ligj 79/2021 "Për të huajt", consolidated with law 43/2025 — article 33/1, the health policy for own means — asp.gov.al
- NederlandWereldwijd — travel advice Albania, with care outside Tirana and the emergency numbers — nederlandwereldwijd.nl
- QSUNT — the Mother Teresa university hospital in Tirana — qsut.gov.al
- Albanian customs — handbook for travellers, with the rules for medicines — dogana.gov.al
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