About EUR 2 bln are necessary in order to renew the equipment of all the medical institutions from the Republic of Moldova, the minister of Health and Social Protection, Ion Ababii told Info-Prim Neo. The present equipment of the medical institutions is too old, being purchased 30-45 years ago, Ababii mentioned within the frameworks of a seminar entitled “Medical equipment and development of medical equipment management”, which took place on November 6, at “Nicolae Testemiteanu” Medical University. Ministry’s plan “Management of medical equipment” includes at the first stage the creation of several centers in Chisinau. Those 4 hospitals selected for repairs are the Emergency Hospital, Republican Hospital, Nr 3 Hospital “Saint Trinity” and Mother and Child Center. According to the experts of the World Bank, only for renewing and reequipping those 4 hospitals about USD 84 mln are necessary. According to the minister, this money can be obtained from international donors and from the state budget. Ababii said he is optimistic as regards the support of the state, because the president Vladimir Voronin assured him in the morning that the medical field and social protection are priority areas, and the national health policy will be implemented in the near future in all the country. The head of the Health Department of the municipality of Chisinau, Victor Savin told Info-Prim Neo that in Chisinau the situation is not better, in light of the fact that the doctors use the equipment which was purchased in the 80s or at the beginning of the 90s’. Because of this fact, Savin says that guarantying the high quality of medical services is difficult. Settlement of this problem is also expensive for Chisinau, Savin considers, because equipping only the hospitals which are in the property of the City Hall would cost USD 100 mln. “At the moment we are searching for different projects financed by international financial bodies and we count on the local budget, which regretfully is not providing any financial means for the medical equipment of these institutions for almost two years”, Savin says, mentioning that such a situation is “not normal” if taking into consideration that the Municipal Council, being the founder of the medical institutions, should take care of their technical endowment. Victor Savin hopes that starting 2007, authorities will undertake concrete actions in this respect, otherwise, the further activity of the medical institutions could determine stopping surgical operations, and diagnostic investigations because of the lack of technical resources.