BUILDING MOLDOVA // Ten health centers to be renovated, endowed with modern equipment in Moldova

Ten health centers of Moldova will be renovated and endowed with modern medical equipment, so that primary care can address up to 70 per cent of people’s health problems. The project aims to bring medical services closer to citizens. The initiative was announced by Health Minister Alexandru Gasnas, who today presented more strategic projects as part of the Building Moldova event, dedicated to investments made through the Moldova’s Growth Plan, supported by the EU.

According to the official, the healthcare system must shift from a hospital-centered model toward prevention, prophylaxis and the development of primary care.

“What I want to present today concerns two goals: first, bringing medical services closer to citizens and, second, ensuring a clear pathway for patients within the healthcare system. We have a shortage of 1,225 medical professionals, which has increased by 80 per cent since 2020. We are also facing an aging medical workforce: one in two employees in the primary care system is over 55 years old. Another reality is that only one in ten citizens has or is even aware of the existence of a file containing relatively complex medical information about his/her health. The healthcare system has 61 information systems, of which only eight communicate with one another. This reality compels us to change the way we think about bringing medical services closer to people,” he said.

The minister emphasized that the healthcare system was currently too rigid and that its infrastructure did not meet the current needs. In the context, it is necessary to change the approach by creating and developing medical services.

“We plan to make major investments in healthcare. We have more projects, but two are essential. The first concerns the development of rural health services and primary care, while the second focuses on digitalization. These projects will allow us to create clearly defined pathways for patients,” Alexandru Gasnas said.

The official highlighted that the first project provides for the renovation of ten health centers, with the aim of bringing medical services closer to citizens.

“When we talk about renovation, we are not referring only to rebuilding or modernizing the infrastructure, but also to changing the role and operating model of these centers. We want to equip the health centers with modern technologies, including equipment for radiography, mammography, electroencephalography, ultrasonography and computed tomography. In this way, primary care could address up to 70 per cent of people’s health problems. We also intend to bring specialists from outpatient services closer to primary care. In localities where we do not have enough medical professionals and specialists, we will turn to telemedicine, so that patients can access consultations more easily and family doctors can receive support and validation of their clinical decisions on behalf of specialists,” he said.

Alexandru Gasnas referred to the construction of the Balti Regional Hospital, a project supported by the Council of Europe Development Bank, the European Union through European grants and the government of Moldova.

“We are currently at the stage of the hospital’s technical design, while the tender and construction are scheduled to begin in 2028. Thus, when medical problems cannot be addressed in primary care, patients will be able to receive comprehensive medical services here, including oncology, interventional surgery, cardiac surgery and neurosurgery. All strictly necessary services will be provided, so that the patient pathway is not fragmented and medical services are closer to people. Thanks to the support of the European Union, we can carry out all these projects in parallel, which will change the paradigm and logic of the entire healthcare system,” the minister noted.

Moldova’s Growth Plan is a European Union financial support programme worth a total of 1.9 billion euros, aimed at accelerating economic development, modernizing infrastructure and supporting the reforms necessary for the country’s European integration. Funding is conditional on the implementation of the reforms undertaken by the authorities.

It has three main components: providing financial support, facilitating Moldovan companies’ access to the EU single market and supporting economic and institutional reforms. Among other things, the package can finance the modernization of roads and energy networks, the development of hospitals and schools, as well as support for businesses.