Government allocates €81m to settle part of hospitals' debts

(Hina) - Slightly less than €81 million will be allocated from the state budget to settle part of the overdue obligations of state- or county-founded hospitals towards suppliers of medicines, consumables and implantable medical devices, the Croatian government decided at its meeting on Thursday.

Because of the general rise in prices caused by macroeconomic circumstances, the Croatian Health Insurance Fund will disburse €79.77 million to state-founded hospitals and €1.16 million to county-founded hospitals.

The decision was made in order to maintain the same level of healthcare across the country and ensure the smooth functioning of the hospitals.

The overdue obligations are the same as last year's, but lower than two years ago, Health Minister Vili Beroš said, citing "financial stabilisation in the context of the ongoing comprehensive reform" of the healthcare system.

Decision on completion of structural and comprehensive reconstruction of 217 buildings

The government also adopted a decision to co-fund grant users participating in the structural and comprehensive reconstruction of earthquake-damaged buildings that began under the EU Solidarity Fund. 

Construction Minister Branko Bačić said that the total value of the work on 1,309 projects agreed under the Solidarity Fund was €3.6 billion (€1.03bn from the Solidarity Fund, €1.5bn from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, and €1.5bn from the state budget and other sources), adding that 999 of these projects have been completed, 267 are ongoing and 43 are at procurement stage.

Of the 267 ongoing projects, 217 are the subject of today's decision and their total value is €2.5 billion. The authorities in charge of these projects are the Ministry of Culture and Media, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Science, Education and Youth.

The Ministry of Science, Education and Youth will be allocated €186 million, the Ministry of Health €203 million and the Ministry of Culture and Media €205 million, Bačić said.

Bačić also presented a regular monthly progress report on post-earthquake reconstruction, saying that in the Zagreb and Petrinja areas the reconstruction of 12,182 buildings, including 11,541 private ones  and 641 projects under the Solidarity Fund, has been completed, adding that a total of 45,854 residential units have been renovated.

"So far, we have invested 2.6 billion euros in the reconstruction from all sources, 256 replacement houses have been built, and 270 are in the process of construction. In the two affected areas, there are a total of 1,745 construction sites and the procurement process is under way for 55 sites. Since the last report 186 renovations have been completed," said Bačić.

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