Krajci: Additional Funds from Recovery Plan Should Be Given to State Hospitals

Bratislava, January 16 (TASR) - State hospitals should receive additional financial support of €212 million from the recovery plan, and the first candidate should be the Children's University Hospital in Kosice, stated MP for the 'Slovakia' party and former health minister Marek Krajci on Thursday. The recovery plan funds were originally set to be allocated mainly to general teaching and university hospitals, which are in a very dilapidated state. "If the government has over €200 million more, I think that the first candidate that should be supported with these funds is the Children's University Hospital in Kosice, which has prepared projects and plans," said Krajci, pointing out that the government approved the project for reconstructing the Kosice children's hospital as early as last year, and the source of funding should have been the state budget. Health Minister Kamil Sasko (Voice-SD) stated that the additional €212 million from the Recovery and Resilience Plan should help to modernise health-care infrastructure, which would increase the number of new or reinstalled hospital beds. "To date, the Health Ministry hasn't decided on how to redistribute the additional allocation," the ministry told TASR, adding that it will be able to use the additional funds for projects under the recovery plan. The draft revision of the Recovery and Resilience Plan will be submitted to the European Commission, as some of the milestones and targets can't be met within the time and scope set. According to the proposal, an additional €212 million from the recovery plan should be allocated to the health-care sector. am/df