The Chisinau Municipal Council allocated for this year 500,000 lei for covering the costs associated with the provision of emergency medical assistance to socially deprived people who do not have a health policy.

Contacted by IPN, Mihai Moldovanu, head of the Chisinau Health Division, said such a fund has existed since 2010, but the mechanism for allocating the money has been modified. Earlier, the municipality used this money for health policies intended for persons in need who needed hospitalized. From this year, the National Health Insurance Company will direct this money directly to medical institutions, for each treated case.

According to Mihai Moldovanu, the fund is also used to cover the costs of hospitalizing homeless people who suffer from hypothermia and other health problems. The allotted sum varies depending on the administered treatment, between 4,000 and 5,000 lei per treated case on average.

The Health Division head noted that last year the municipal authorities didn’t exceed the planned spending.