The money for the new county hospital is coming, a month and a half before the elections. Discussion in the government for the allocation of 2 billion lei for new projects

In today’s government meeting, it is also on the agenda the ordinance by which no more than 2 billion lei can be allocated for the construction of a county hospital, exactly the act that the Sibiu County Council needs to solve most of the project’s funding source. In the case of the new county hospital in Sibiu, the total cost amounts to 2.5 billion lei.

In the original act, subject to public debate, there was a ceiling of one billion lei for county units, and now it is raised to 2 billion. 500 million less than the estimated cost for the construction of the County Clinical Hospital, the one on the “thieves’ road”, but much closer to the phase where the project can become feasible.

Last summer, the County Council awarded the contract to build the new hospital for the amount of 2.5 billion lei, including VAT. The award was made in an auction with a suspensive clause, in the sense that the construction and equipment contract will be signed only after CJ Sibiu obtains the necessary funds.

“One of the problems often encountered in the hospital network is fragmentation – flag hospitals“

On February 28, at the then government meeting, the ordinance was in “first reading”, and now its approval is being discussed. However, this does not mean that the money will come. Both the final text and application rules are to appear in the Official Gazette.

“Currently, hospitals in Romania are based on an infrastructure designed 50-60 years ago, when the need for health services was different from today’s realities. One of the problems often found in the hospital network is the fragmentation of the flag hospitals, which creates difficulties in terms of the organization of flows and the transport of patients”, it is stated in the substantiation note of the emergency ordinance, this being exactly the situation of the current county hospital, divided in several buildings.

“The percentage of unsatisfied medical needs remains high in Romania. There are also differences in access to health care by region, ethnicity, age or income level. Thus, people living in rural or small urban areas, those from marginalized communities and those with a low socio-economic level have little access to medical care (State of Health 2019 – OECD).

In addition, there is a low level of integration between the different forms of healthcare, and the healthcare workforce is unevenly distributed between different areas of the country, i.e. between rural and urban areas. The provision of necessary equipment is still far from the standards of advanced European countries and, often, the territorial distribution and use of medical equipment in public facilities does not respond to the local health status profile nor to the health needs of the population”, the explanatory note also states.

2 billion a “county”, 350.5 million a “municipal”

Based on the new document, a maximum of 2 billion lei can be allocated from this source for the construction of a county hospital.

“The value of the program carried out by the Ministry of Investments and European Projects in the period 2024-2031 is 13.250 billion lei, the maximum limit based on which multi-year financing contracts can be concluded.

Maximum gross value of a project:

-2 billion lei for emergency county hospitals, specialized hospitals

– 350.5 million lei for municipal/municipal emergency hospitals

– 250 million lei for city hospitals.

– 3.250 billion lei for public health units that were approved for funding from the PNRR by the Ministry of Health as the coordinator of reforms and investments for component 12 – Health by HG no. 143/2023″, it is specified in the text of the ordinance (…) whose financial allocation was reduced in accordance with art. 18 of EU regulation 241/2021.

The constructions must be completed within 5 years from the conclusion of the financing contract with the Ministry of Investments, and this period can be extended by a maximum of 2 years, but no later than the end of 2031.

What are the next steps:

According to the Ordinance, after the approval of the act and its publication in the Official Gazette, the methodological norms by which the decision will be applied are to be drawn up.

Then, the Ministry of Health establishes the methodology for granting the approval of opportunity for projects, within 15 days from the entry into force of the methodological norms.

At the same time, within 45 days from the entry into force of the methodological norms, the Ministry of Investments and European Projects approves the financing guide by order and launches the call for projects.

Then, the beneficiaries, in our case the Sibiu County Council, can submit an application to obtain the opportunity approval from the Ministry of Health for the investment.

The Ministry of Health and the Ministry of European Projects Investments, following the evaluation of the projects, draw up the list of projects proposed for financing which is approved by Government Decision.

After approving the list of projects by Government Decision, the Ministry of Investments and European Projects concludes multi-year financing contracts between the Ministry of Investments and European Projects and the beneficiaries, “for a maximum period of 5 years, within the limits of the commitment credits approved annually for this purpose, without the annual scheduling of budget credits, which are registered cumulatively for the entire financing period”.

Cîmpean: “This hospital will not only treat PNL voters”

It is not clear yet who managed to double the maximum amount that can be granted for a county hospital project, the liberals or the social democrats.

It is certain that on February 8, two weeks ago, Daniela Cîmpean asked for the support of all political forces to “intervene”, “to get money” for the new hospital.

Asked then by the county councilor Adrian Echert (USR), Daniela Cîmpean showed that she does not consider the draft ordinance that was under debate last year and which she attributed to “press speculation”.

“The fact that a health program came out that would provide for hospital funding from government funds and loans, an ordinance that is not approved… I can’t wrap my head around it and what I’m going to do if that gets approved or not. When I am certain that the data are different from those currently in force, I will come before you and present you with the solutions”, answered Cîmpean.

President of CJ Sibiu and vice-president of PNL at the national level, Daniela Cîmpean asked for support for the project of the new Sibiu county hospital.

“In this hospital only PNL voters will be treated, so that you leave this burden of obtaining funding only to the County Council. This hospital is for all the citizens of the county and for all those who come from the surrounding area. We have a project, we have a good, necessary project. I appeal to everyone, in all the ways they have, to intervene to get money, because it is in the interest of all of us, and not to blame the CJ for how much money he put in the documentation”, continued Daniela Cîmpean, after was asked why – in addition to the 14.2 million lei spent so far on documentation and consultancy – for the current year two million lei are planned for consultancy in 2024 and, in total, 70 million lei for consultancy, until in 2027.

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