Not enough money for public hospitals, Romania’s new PM says

“There is not enough money” to keep the public healthcare sector running by the end of the year, prime minister Ludovic Orban and health minister Victor Costache announced in a joint press conference on November 7, as Costache officially took over his minister seat.

The funds earmarked in the budget for the specific national health programs can’t cover the necessary expenses and the public healthcare system is running a deficit wider than projected, PM Orban implied, according to local Ziarul Financiar.

The payroll expenditures will exceed by some RON 4 billion (EUR 840 mln) the projections included in the budget planning inherited from former Government, minister Costache added.

The ministry will assess the necessities and submit the list as an input for the budget revision that the new Government, which took office in early November, has to operate. While PM Orban said that he didn’t yet have a figure for the supplementary funds to be allotted to the Health Ministry, minister Coistache assured that the available money would be used for emergency programs.

(Photo source: Gov.ro)