The Health Division of the Chisinau City Hall asks the local administration to cover the costs of the digital radiological equipment intended for the family doctors’ centres of the five districts of Chisinau, which will be purchased next year. At Monday’s meeting of the City Hall, the Division’s head Mihai Moldovan stressed the necessity of including the financial resources needed to buy the equipment in the draft budget of the municipality of Chisinau. According to him, the morbidity through tuberculosis is on the rise, while the radiological equipment of the healthcare institutions purchased in the 70s does not meet the present standards. Moldovan said that practically no recourses were allocated from the local budget for acquiring medical equipment in the past three years. He said that the institutions need different equipment, but first of all radiological. A digital radiological apparatus costs about 1.5 mln lei. At least five such apparatuses worth 7.5 mln lei are needed at the initial stage. Deputy Mayor of Chisinau Igor Lupulciuc said that the draft municipal budget for next year includes only 17 mln lei for the health sector, as against 27 mln lei allocated this year and this is not equitable. Valentina Vazdautan, interim head of the Finance Division, said that the application for purchasing the equipment was submitted by the Division and is in compliance with the municipal programmes in the area, so that until the draft municipal budget for 2008 is examined in second reading, the necessary resources for covering the equipment’s cost will be identified.