Minister Bolos: If 7 bln euro budget not enough to modernize health service, historic chance missed

Minister of European Funds Marcel Bolos declared on Friday in Zalau that Romania will have at its disposal in the next years about seven billion euros for the modernization of the public health system and if this modernization does not take place, our country will miss a historic chance. "There will be record budget allocations for the public health service. We summed them up last night, all the financing instruments and everything that means funds allocated for the public health service exceed seven billion euros," said Bolos, present in Zalau at the signing of a financing contract for the purchase of medical equipment for two hospitals in Salaj County. According to him, in the next financial year, funds will be allocated not only for everything that means the infrastructure of buildings and their fitting with equipment, but also for programs aimed at the qualification of doctors, something that has not existed until now. "Everything that means the infrastructure of the buildings, the fitting with equipment that we are already accustomed to will also be completed in the future by allocations for the training of doctors, something that we haven't had until now. (...) This means improving their professional skills - specialization courses or everything they need to be able to fulfill their medical mission as well as possible, but we will have funds for what the technical skills of doctors mean, included. (...) This can happen starting with the next programming period," said the Minister of European Funds. Another program that will be considered in the healthcare is that of medical and social assistance in rural areas, namely, the establishment of medical offices in villages, the amount allocated being 650 million euros. "We will provide salaries for more than 2,000 nurses over a period of seven years. As many as 1,000 social workers are also envisaged for funding, 1,000 social assistance technicians. The value of the program amounts to over 650 million euros, which is a first ensured by the Orban government, so that the population from the villages can have the best possible accessibility to everything medical services," said Bolos. Preventive health screening, including free tests, is a comprehensive program with a value of 775 million euros, targeting over four million Romanians. "If the budget of seven billion euros will not be enough for the modernization of the public health service (...), then it means that we have missed the historic chance to have this great public service of Romania modernized and developed," the minister of European funds maintained. AGERPRES (RO - author: Sebastian Olaru, editor: Antonia Nita; EN - author; Simona Iacob, editor: Simona Klodnischi)