The government in Bucharest on Thursday approved the
timetable of signature procedures by the end of the year for the funding contracts
of several hospitals in Romania.
The field of healthcare is one of a maximum interest
and concern for all citizens to which we must give the appropriate attention as
well as our responsible commitment in order to achieve what we have announced
up to this moment – the country’s Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca said. According
to Dan Carbunaru, spokesman for the Romanian Executive, the programme focuses
on the construction and fitting of 7 new county hospitals and also for the refurbishment
or reconstruction of other 20 public city hospitals.
Dan Cărbunaru: The total
sum to fund this programme stays around 2 billion Euros and will be covered from
European funds through both the Health programme and the European Investment
Bank. The timetable is pretty tight and involves the publication of the
guidelines by 15th May and the appeals until 10th July so
that all the funding contracts be signed by the end of the year.
According to the Minister of Investment and European
Projects, Marcel Boloş, the deadlines set the opportunity for accessing funds
through the Operational Health Programme. The programme, which was endorsed in
late November by the European Commission, is a multi-fund programme with a
total allotment of 5.8 billion Euros.
It’s for the first time Romania benefits from a
Health programme to support mass investment in its hospital infrastructure, in
high-quality medical services and in training the medical personnel – Marcel Boloș said after the endorsement of the
project by the community executive.
According to the Minister, the Romanian medical system
will be rebuilt on this budget so that the Romanians may benefit conditions,
services and personnel at the level of the European countries with
high-performing public healthcare systems.
Also worth noting is the fact that investment, from
the blueprints to the construction and fitting of these medical facilities with
the appropriate equipment, must be ready until June 2026.
A recent survey conducted by World Bank experts shows
that Romania runs the risk of losing three major projects from the National Recovery
and Resilience Plan due to the delays in various stages of the projects such as
research, tenders and works. One of these projects that can be lost is the
funding of the aforementioned 27 hospitals. Opposition in Romania and experts have
repeatedly cautioned against the delays in the process of approving the list of
the hospitals included in the programme, which was eventually endorsed by the
government in Bucharest in February.
(bill)