OUT of the 180 health-care facilities eligible to apply for financial assistance from the Ministry of Health to settle their past debts, only 14 have applied and they requested a cumulative sum of €114 million. Health-care facilities administered by the ministry, military hospitals, hospitals administered by Slovakia’s self-governing regions, and non-profit health-care facilities were eligible to request such financial assistance before the end of August, the TASR newswire reported.
The state will transfer funds to health-care facilities to settle debts that had accrued up to September 30, 2008. The ministry budget for this purpose was set at €199.2 million. The hospitals will have 15 years to repay the money, with a two year grace period before they must start making payments.
The ministry will decide about the actual amounts of the financial assistance by November 30 based on recommendations of a committee consisting of representatives of the Health Ministry and the Finance Ministry. The health-care facilities should be able to receive the funds by the end of 2009.
