ArmInfo. The RA Ministry of Finance intends to discuss the department's priorities with the Ministry of Health and make certain changes in health care costs. This was stated by Minister of Finance Vahe Hovhannisyan on May 30 in parliament at the preliminary hearing of the report on the implementation of the budget for 2023.
Hovhannisyan said that in 2023, the state budget planned to allocate 146 billion drams for the implementation of 12 programs and 50 events of the Ministry of Health. During the year, the number of events increased by 7, but actual expenses amounted to 139.5 billion drams or 97.1% of the adjusted annual plan.
Former Minister of Health of Armenia, and now MP from the ruling faction Arsen Torosyan, as he said, "taking advantage of this opportunity" decided to clarify the plans of the Ministry of Finance in connection with covering the state's debts to medical centers. As Torosyan indicated, according to the information he had, as of April 15, the Ministry of Health owed medical institutions an amount of 2.5 billion drams. As of May 15, the amount of debt has reached 3.3 billion drams. In this regard, Torosyan asked the head of the Ministry of Finance whether the Armenian treasury would be able to handle expenses "according to the principle of an unlimited budget" if such pace continues until the end of the year.
The head of the Ministry of Finance recalled that previously a number of government agencies assumed obligations, the volume of which at that time was impossible to estimate. Thus, the Ministry of Health stated that starting from 2024, RA hospitals will receive unlimited funding to fulfill state orders. The financial department spoke earlier about the likelihood of certain risks, he added.
"We need to discuss the department's priorities with the Ministry of Health and understand that if the costs continue to increase, it will be necessary to discuss their implementation at the expense of other sectors or suspending them, including in 2024. There are certain issues related to tax collection. Not with the collection of taxes, but due to a number of economic indicators, the plans that we had for tax collections are, in a certain sense, not being fulfilled, the connection with which must be clarified," Vahe Hovhannisyan explained.
