Even if they do not meet all the European standards, the hospitals taken over from district councils will not be closed, said Minister of Health Ala Nemerenco. According to her, the government aims to modernize the district hospitals and to outfit them with modern equipment so that the patients benefit from medical services of a high quality, IPN reports.
The official noted that the hospital reform includes the modernization of district hospitals and the building of two new, modern regional hospitals in Balti and Cahul. Some of the existing hospitals will become sub-regional hospitals and will be outfitted with state-of-the-art equipment.
“Many district hospitals are far from meeting particular European standards. If we had been in another country, I think these hospitals would have been closed. We do not have any intention to close hospitals, but surgery with one surgeon is not possible. The idea of building two absolutely new regional hospitals wasn’t abandoned. The agreement passed through the Cabinet and we can now start negotiations with the Council of Europe Bank for the hospital in Balti. We currently have 31 district hospitals we took over. Three remained in Gagauzia. Their size is different – from 100 beds to 300 beds. Those with 300 beds will become sub-regional hospitals as they will have also a maternity hospital, intensive care units, emergency admission units and computed tomography scanners,” Ala Nemenrenco stated in the program “Shadow Cabinet” on JurnalTV channel.
The minister said that new computed tomography scanners were bought, but these cannot be distributed owing to the old infrastructure in district hospitals. Before the scanners are installed, the Ministry will rehabilitate the existing spaces.
“We are seriously affected by the procedures and bureaucracy. We bought tomography scanners for districts, which are very important, primarily for patients who suffer a stroke. We will have nine districts with computed tomography scanners. All the scanners were shipped to the country, but we are still repairing the spaces as the floor does not resist the weight and the wirings fall all over the hospital. When we did the calculations, we determined that the repair of an imaging ward alone costs us 1-2 million lei. That’s why a tender contest is held to choose the contractor that will execute the repair works and then a tender contest will be held to choose the contractor for erecting the building. At the moment, the scanners cannot be yet installed even if they were delivered and cleared. The scanners cost from half a million to 1 million euros,” stated the minister.
The law on health protection was amended to allow transferring the district hospitals from district councils under the management of the Ministry of Health, except for the hospitals founded by the Executive Committee of ATU Gagauzia. According to the Ministry of Health, as a result of the reform the investments in these institutions will grow to improve the quality of services provided to patients.
