Healthcare Ministry proposes diverting EUR 15.08 million towards coverage of expenditures of laboratory COVID-19 tests, as provided by the ministry’s prepared decision project, which will be reviewed by the Cabinet of Ministers on November 3.
The ministry explains that following the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the state has paid for laboratory tests. Funding was taken from the state budget project’s Financing for Emergencies program in accordance with the number of performed tests and actual costs.
“A relatively long time tends to pass between COVID-19 tests and the issue of financing. To ensure laboratories that perform COVID-19 tests do not run out of funding and are able to afford supplies of reagents, it is necessary to provide the National Health Service with funding so that NHS is able to perform payments immediately after receiving information about the work performed in three months – September, October and November. Funding will help secure uninterrupted flow of money, allowing laboratories to pay healthcare institutions,” notes Healthcare Ministry.
The ministry has calculated that the necessary funding for this is EUR 15,084,236.
At the same time, the ministry proposes covering secondary ambulatory healthcare service costs for July (EUR 403,446) and August (EUR 521,542). It is also proposed to cover dentistry costs – for July (EUR 32,827) and August (EUR 52,781).
The ministry requests EUR 16,807,205 to be allocated from the aforementioned state budget program to cover the costs of laboratory tests and other expenditures that have appeared as a result of COVID-19 outbreak. (BNN/Business World Magazine)
