One of the most controversial concessions in healthcare has been the sterilization of medical equipment, a service that was given to a private company in 2015, while the hefty bill paid by the state was around 120 million euros. Meanwhile, the statesmen who signed the papers and the private individuals who benefited from this amount for about a decade have an open trial at the Special Court against Organized Crime and Corruption.
After the concession expired, the government decided to nationalize this service, creating a state-owned company directly under the Ministry of Health and Social Protection. In January 2026, Minister Evis Sala signed the act of establishment of the state-owned company that would undertake sterilization, naming the company “Operatori i Servijeve të Integraruara e Sterilizimi”.
Meanwhile, in the previous days or weeks, this new state institution has verified the equipment and all the work tools carried out by the concessionaire, the company "Sani Service". It is learned that a multitude of anomalies have been found, while the private company is suspected of having "left a hole" in the entire service. This has "forced" the Operator to quickly open 15 tenders for basic services, most of the procedures are by negotiation, that is, without any competition.
We hope that history will not repeat itself in these tenders in medicine, where the money once again goes to a narrow group of private individuals with strong connections in politics.
It is learned that within a short period of time, 15 procedures have been opened, where those with the highest funds are only by negotiation. The administrators of the state company will negotiate or more precisely will select the winning firms to provide them with services and money "in hand". In total, according to our editorial team's calculations, the Ministry of Health will spend 481,378,506 lek, or about 5 million euros.
Sterilization Operator Tenders
96 million lek, or about 1 million euros, will go to the transport of sterile sets, non-sterile sets, soft materials. Transport of hazardous hospital waste is also required. An amount of 216 million lek, or 2.2 million euros, will go to the purchase of sterile medical materials, sterile dressings and similar disposable materials in surgical rooms. An amount of 6 million lek will go to cleaning the power plants. Meanwhile, 82 million lek will again go to the purchase of sterile medical materials, sterile dressings.
The list of tenders continues with the procedure for the transport of sterile sets, non-sterile sets, soft materials, where the figure is 24 million lek. The next procedure, by negotiation, without notice, is the maintenance of the internal management and security systems, the costs of which amount to 8.5 million lek. 1 million lek will go for internet service, but with this amount drinking water will be purchased for the staff.
According to documents researched by Vox News, 25 million lekë went to purchase fuel for company vehicles, 9 million lekë for maintenance of medical equipment, and 7.2 million lekë for urban vehicle transportation. 2.4 million lekë, or about 25 thousand euros, went to purchase uniforms for the staff of the sterilization centers.
On January 15, 2026, Evis Sala registered with the National Business Center the deed of establishment of the joint-stock company “Operatori i servisi integrata te sterilizimi” (OSHIS) for the provision of integrated sterilization process services. The initial capital for the creation of the joint-stock company was 200 million lekë, while it succeeds the concessionaire firm “Sani Service” in services.
A few months ago, Vox News published documents that the sterilization concessionaire firm in the last years of its operation would declare an annual turnover of 18 million euros from the state. The concession was finalized in December 2015, when the Ministry of Health signed a 10-year contract with the company “Sani Service”.
Meanwhile, in August 2023, SPAK issued 8 arrest warrants for senior officials and concession owners, who were accused of abuse of office, forgery of documents, passive corruption and violation of equality of participants in the competition. The investigation even revealed that the original concession contract was missing from the archive. The investigation revealed that the feasibility study had been conducted with false data.
It is learned that the company that benefits from the concession "Sani Service" is owned by 4 partners, "Servizi Italia" with 30%, "Tecnosanimed" and "TRD" with 15% and "Investital" with 40% of the quotas. The company "Investital" is registered in Kosovo with owner Ilir Rrapaj, who is under arrest by SPAK, together with the former Deputy Minister of Health, Klodian Rrjepaj. In fact, there is also a security measure for Sterilization against former Minister Ilir Beqaj.
In documents published at the National Business Center, the concessionaire firm wrote that “the company is distributed in 29 hospital centers throughout the territory.” It operates low-complexity, medium-complexity, high-complexity interventions and steam packages.
In the balance sheet, "Sani Service" writes that in 2024, "based on the acts, it results that the exercise result - PROFIT - after tax for 2024 is 67,591,156 lekë". There are suspicions that the concessionaire has inflated costs in order not to pay other obligations to the state, but to act the same as other companies that only continue to plunder the Albanian subsoil or the taxes of the poor inhabitants of Albania.
Editorial
