Medical education in Albania: current situation and perspective, with reference to primary care.

A radical primary health care-oriented reform of the medical services in Albania is now under way, calling for adequate revision in medical education. The reform has started in 1994. In January 1997, the Department of Family Medicine at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Tirana, was established for the development of general practice and family medicine, and with it a new era in medical education in Albania has begun.