ALBANIA · EUROPE
Is there a bone marrow registry in Albania?
For people who live in Albania. Live somewhere else? Find your country.
As of , we haven’t found a bone marrow donor registry that people who live in Albania can join. That doesn’t mean there isn’t one. Albania’s health ministry said in November 2019 that Tirana’s Mother Teresa hospital would do the first bone marrow transplant within a year; the national transfusion center lists only blood donation. 3 4
| Place | Albania (Shqipëri) 13 |
|---|---|
| Region | Southern Europe, Europe 9 |
| Population | About 2.8 million (2023) 10 |
| Registry | None found as of 7 |
| World donor search | No organization based in Albania lists adult donors or cord blood units in WMDA’s Search & Match (). 11 |
| Transplants | In November 2017 Tirana’s American Hospital wrote that many Albanians with serious blood diseases who could not be treated in Albania had been treated at the bone marrow transplant department of Careggi hospital in Florence. 14 |
| Where we looked | 4 places, in Albanian |
| Checked | |
| Next check |
What we found in Albania
Albania’s blood transfusion center lists blood donation, not marrow donation. 3
| Where | Language | Finding | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| World Marrow Donor Association | English | On Oct 11, 2026, no organization based in Albania appeared on the World Marrow Donor Association’s member map or in its organization database. 7 8 | |
| Ministria e Shëndetësisë dhe Mbrojtjes Sociale (Albania) | Albanian | On Oct 15, 2026, a search of Albania’s Ministry of Health website for “palcës” (marrow) found news about financing bone marrow transplants, but nothing about joining a donor registry. 4 | |
2 more searches with nothing to add
| |||
On Oct 11, 2026, the donation information of Albania’s National Blood Transfusion Centre covered blood only, with nothing on stem cell or marrow donor registration. 3
Can people in Albania join a registry abroad?
Across the Adriatic, Italy’s registry, IBMDR, asks people who join to stay in Italy for at least six months, so it doesn’t sign up people living in Albania, according to its rules on Oct 15, 2026. 1
Greece’s donor center KEDMOP accepted only home addresses in Greek prefectures and islands on its online kit form on Oct 16, 2026, with the country fixed as Greece. 2
Are stem cell transplants done in Albania?
At the Albanian Hematology Society congress in November 2019, Albania’s health minister said 11 million euros a year went to medicines for blood diseases, with 38 reimbursed drugs for blood cancers. 4
Has Albania announced a registry or a law?
In 2014 a study published by Albania’s Institute of Public Health, based on tissue typing for transplants in Albania, concluded that the country needed a national registry of unrelated stem cell donors. 12
In a 2014 study at Tirana’s Mother Teresa hospital, a brother or sister with a matching tissue type was found for 27 of 70 patients who needed a transplant; for the other 43, a comparison with 510 unrelated Albanians found 15 compatible potential donors for 10 of them. 12
Since Oct 17, 2025, Albania’s Ministry of Health has offered an online application for permission to import human tissues, cells and organs for transplants. 6
On Nov 20, 2019, Albania’s health ministry said its 2020 budget, with 26 million dollars of health investment, would pay for bone marrow transplants for the first time. 5
Know of a registry in Albania?
Download the card
The link preview says: “No verified way to join yet. That doesn’t mean there isn’t one. Here’s what we checked.”
Registries
- IBMDR - E.O. Ospedali Galliera. Iscrizione al Registro Nazionale Italiano Donatori di Midollo Osseo.
- ΚΕΔΜΟΠ «Χάρισε Ζωή». Αίτηση εγγραφής Δότη Μυελού των Οστών. Checked
- Qendra Kombëtare e Transfuzionit të Gjakut (National Blood Transfusion Centre, Albania). Llojet e Dhurimit.
Official bodies
- Ministria e Shëndetësisë dhe Mbrojtjes Sociale (Albania). Manastirliu: Nis investimi për realizimin e transplantit të parë të palcës së kuqe në QSUT. Updated Nov 20, 2019. Checked
- Ministria e Shëndetësisë (Albania). Rezultatet e kërkimit: palcës. Checked
- Ministria e Shëndetësisë (Albania). Application for Import Authorization of Human-Origin Tissues, Cells, and Organs for Transplant Purposes. Updated Oct 17, 2025. Checked
Figures and lists
- World Marrow Donor Association (WMDA). Find your registry.
- WMDA. WMDA Share organisation database (public view).
- United Nations Statistics Division. Standard country or area codes for statistical use (M49): Overview (English table).
- UN DESA Population Division. World Population Prospects 2024: Total population by sex (CSV).
- WMDA. WMDA Total Number of Donors and Cord blood units.
Other sources
- Instituti i Shëndetit Publik (Institute of Public Health, Albania). Histocompatibility testing for allogeneic HSCT in Albania: raising the evidence for the need of an unrelated donor stem cell national registry.
- Unicode CLDR. By-Type Chart: Locale Display Names:Territories (Europe). Checked
- Spitali Amerikan (American Hospital, Tirana). Dekorohet nga Kryetari Bashkisë [names removed]. Updated Nov 20, 2017. Checked