Prague, Aug 2 (CTK) – The Czech Health Ministry has reduced the demands for its budget increase from 3.7 billion to two billion crowns, the sum has not yet been agreed on and the decision will be made by the government, Health Ministry Miloslav Ludvik (Social Democrats, CSSD) told journalists today.
In the morning, he left for the talks with Finance Minister Ivan Pilny (ANO) with the request to have the planned 6.947 billion crowns raised by another 3.708 billion.
Ludvik said the two billion crowns was a sum “cut to the minimum.”
He said the talks with Pilny had been quite reasonable.
“We checked one chapter after another, one item after another. The Finance Ministry is naturally struggling hard. However, the final decision will be up to the government,” Pilny said.
Ludvik said the Health Ministry needed to finance all subsidy programmes, ranging from the subsidies for residential places for young doctors to HIV prevention and perinatal care.
After the first budget bill was published in May, Ludvik told CTK that he would need 4.3 billion crowns more.
In the first proposal, the health care was to receive 6.947 billion crowns, 311 million less than this year.
Ludvik said the proposal had not reckoned even with approved investments over ten billion crowns.
Through its administration, the ministry decides on how much health insurance companies will pay to doctors and hospitals for treatment.
Health facilities also pay salaries of the money. This year, health insurances are to pay 270.3 billion for the treatment, in 2018 it is to be 278.5 billion and in 2019, 287 billion crowns.
The state pays the health insurance money for roughly 5.95 million people, primarily children, pensioners and the jobless.
In the past years, the Health Ministry budget has been ranging at around seven billion crowns.
($1 = 22.123 crowns)
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