(mouth specialists), 183; pharmacists, 262; medical aides, 725; dental
assistants, 139; pharmacist assistants, 334; midwives, 1,091; nurses,
4,100; and laboratory technicians, 737. Dentists were not listed as a
separate category. The average number of inhabitants per doctor in the
districts was approximately 2,000; however, in two districts the average
was over 3,000, and in one, less than 1,000. All medical personnel were
in government employ, and no private medical practice existed.

The expansion of medical services after World War II was made possible
to a large extent by accelerated training programs. A school for
training medical assistants was begun in 1948 and, starting in the early
1950s, the Red Cross conducted courses for semiskilled medical workers.
A medical college for training professional personnel was established in
1952; in 1957 it became the Faculty of Medicine of the State University
of Tirana, and the first doctors were graduated that year. During the
1950s most physicians were trained in the Soviet Union. In the late
1960s the number of persons undergoing training as midwives was
increased, and the goal was to have at least one midwife in every
village by June 1971.

The use of mobile medical teams and equipment played a major role in
expanding and improving medical care in rural areas. Laboratory, X-ray,
and other services once available only in the largest cities were
established in the district and sometimes at lower levels. The regime,
in its effort to build up agriculture in the mid-1960s, set as an
objective the improvement of living conditions in the countryside and
the elimination of the differential between city and country. Medical
assistance to rural areas continued to increase in the late 1960s, but
in late 1969 the minister of health stated that the differences between
the center and the districts and between the cities and the villages
were very pronounced. He directed that action be taken to lessen the gap
but added that differences would continue to exist.

Nutrition

Food supply--perennially a problem because of poor soil, primitive
methods of cultivation, and lack of readily accessible resources--did
not keep pace with population growth. For the late 1960s calorie intake
per capita per day probably did not exceed 2,100 to 2,200, while the
estimate for the mid-1950s was 2,200 to 2,300. The diet lacked protein
and other protective elements. An estimated 80 percent or more of