The budget rebalancing also covers the debt for medicines: another 10 million euros are needed for medicines

With the budget rebalancing proposal for this year, which will be on the Government's agenda today, it is planned to allocate 10 million euros more for the health system, in order to pay off old debts.

That sum, as unofficially announced to "Vijesti" in the Government, will be used to repay the debt for medicines.

Yesterday, "Vijesti" announced that the Government will propose a rebalancing of this year's budget, which plans an additional debt of up to 500 million euros, and that this money will be dominantly spent in 2020, for old debts that are coming due.

Sources from the executive authority said that the state does not need money for this year, but that the assessment is that it is better to borrow now under better conditions on the international market.

The Assembly will vote on the rebalancing proposal by the end of July.

About 237,3 million euros have been earmarked for healthcare this year, which is about thirty million more than the planned budget for 2018 of the Health Insurance Fund (FZO).

About 97,4 million euros were set aside for health spending, of which 72,5 million were for medicines and medical devices. This is about 4,6 percent more compared to last year's budget rebalancing, but it is at the level of spending from 2017. 55 million euros are planned for medicines this year.

At the end of the year, the FZO owed about 23 million euros for medicines, medical supplies, sick leave and treatment abroad, due to the lack of money for the health system in the previous five years.

Last year, the State Audit Institution established that the debt of the FZO at the beginning of 2018 was less than seven million, and already in the fall it was about 27 million euros.

The FZO has repeatedly pointed out that the outstanding obligations of that institution are the result of insufficiently allocated funds for the existing scope of the right to health care, based on mandatory health insurance.

The budget of the FZO in 2010 was 5,42 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), and in 2017 it was 4,64 percent. Real costs, on the other hand, amounted to 5,71 percent of GDP in 2010, and seven years later 5,19 percent.

According to the data of the international Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) from 2015, Montenegro was in the penultimate place in terms of spending on healthcare in relation to GDP.

The consumption of medicines in Montenegro is constantly growing.

Even two years ago, the FZO concluded that the consumption of drugs and increased prescribing are influenced by preventive programs, the aging of the population and the increase in chronic patients, new combinations of different drugs, pressure from the pharmaceutical mafia, but also the fact that the prices of certain drugs are rising, regardless of the fact that they have been on the market for decades. the market. In order to improve the supply and availability of medicines, and due to occasional shortages of medicines, the project "With a prescription to private pharmacies" was started again two years ago.

Medicines can be obtained on prescription in 54 state and 164 private pharmacies that have signed a contract with the Health Insurance Fund.

In the first four months of 2019, about 13,6 million euros were spent from the budget on medicines obtained from pharmacies, of which 4,6 went to private individuals.