ArmInfo. For 2021, the envisaged budget for the programs of the Ministry of Health will slightly exceed the indicators of 2020. Minister of Health of Armenia Arsen Torosyan stated this on November 9 during the discussion of the draft budget for 2021.
He noted that 2020 turned out to be a specific year, since the department was twice forced to revise the budget, which was primarily due to the need to implement additional costs due to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, followed by hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh. Torosyan noted that the financing of the programs of the Ministry of Health for 2021 will exceed the figure foreseen in early 2020 by 2 billion drams.
The minister said that 27.9 billion drams will be allocated for the implementation of the program to preserve primary health in 2021, instead of 27.1 billion drams envisaged at the beginning of 2020, which is associated with operating costs. In this context, Torosyan noted that medical institutions close the year with a positive balance with great difficulty.
6.3 billion drams will be allocated to the public health program (instead of 5.8 billion drams a year ago), which is conditioned by the means of prevention of viral diseases. At the same time, the operating expenses of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, which is leading the fight against coronavirus, will be increased.
Due to changes in subprograms, the budget of the program for providing medical care to certain groups of people and socially disadvantaged families has been increased from 27.1 billion drams in 2020 to 27.2 billion drams in 2021.
Funding for the program for the provision of medical care in cases of non-viral diseases has been increased from 13.7 billion drams (in 2020) to 15.8 billion drams.
At the same time, expenditures on emergency medical aid services slightly increased from 4.3 billion drams to 5 billion drams.
At the same time, the budget of the "Maternal and Child Health" program was slightly reduced and amounted to 19.1 billion drams (instead of 20.4 billion drams), which is associated with the redistribution of services under other budget programs. The minister said that there is also some reduction in the program for the prevention of viral diseases, which is due to the fact that a number of diseases have become more manageable, and there is no need for hospitalization of citizens. In connection with the increase in the number of beneficiaries, the budget of the program for the provision of medicines has been increased from 3.3 billion drams to 3.5 billion drams. At the same time, Torosyan stressed that the operating costs of the Ministry of Health remained at the same level as envisaged a year earlier - 951.9 million drams.
