The Angel's Cradle Program- Tirana, Albania

Dr.Kosova shopping for the babies

Dr. Halim Kosova is the General Director of the maternity hospital in Tirana, and has been an OSAAB partner since 1999.  Dr. Kosova collaborates with OSAAB board members in the development of campaigns to raise awareness about the safe haven which exists within the hospital for women with unwanted pregnancies. Additionally, Dr. Kosova has worked with OSAAB board members in identifying and securing funds from international donors for the rehabilitation of six buildings and departments within the hospital complex. Dr. Kosova has often said that ...."the efforts that OSAAB has made in de-stigmatizing the babies in the eyes of society, as well as the medical community, have made a remarkable impact on the way abandoned babies are now viewed. We are thankful for the efforts they have made in securing donor funds for our hospital, not only those used for rehabilitating the infrastructure, but also those which provided much needed medical equipment and supplies, enabling us to offer an improved quality of health care to women and infants in Albania. OSAAB has been an inspiration to the hospital, instilling a sense of pride in the medical staff caring for the abandoned babies".

Nexhime Bega, Head Nurse, Abandoned Babies Ward

NEXHMIE has worked with babies for all of the 32 years of her nursing career; she has been the Head Nurse at the Abandoned Babies’ Ward of the maternity hospital for the last 10 years. She explains the impact OSAAB has had on her mentality and her work.

"The changes made at the hospital as soon as OSAAB came are big. Before OSAAB, the condition of the babies’ ward and the babies themselves was very bad. We had no proper food to feed the babies, no proper clothes to dress them, and we never held, cuddled, or played with them…Babies now have names and not numbers like before. The environment itself has changed, good food for the babies, diapers, good hygiene, and, the most important, the nurses take better care of the babies. Nurses not only feed and change the babies, they communicate with them. And I can tell you that, because of the good care our babies receive, the disease and mortality rate is lower compared to the other wards of the hospital. We have a lot of premature babies, but they survive because of the care they receive.

Before we had a problem with the staff, as they did not want to work in our ward, but now they are happy to work there and do not want to move to other departments. Now, our ward is like an example for the others……The most important thing is that OSAAB has changed the mentality of our staff. Before, we thought ‘if their natural parents do not want these babies, then why should we care about them?’ But, our staff now loves the babies and for that we thank OSAAB and its volunteers."