2007 DRAFT BUDGET PROJECTS SIZEABLE GROWTH OF SUBSIDIES TO HEALTH SECTOR

Armenpress
Oct 11 2006

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 11, ARMENPRESS: The draft government budget for 2007
unveiled late last month would substantially raise subsidies to health
sector from 39.5 billion drams this year to almost 47.6 billion drams.

Some 844 million drams of this sum are projected for management of
state-run health institutions and establishments and around 3 billion
would be released to hygienic and anti-epidemic services. Hospitals
and clinics will get next year 2 billion drams more, 16.8 billion
and 16.7 billion drams respectively.

The budget, if approved by parliament, will also lead to a sizable
rise in the monthly salaries of doctors and hospital personnel in
general. Thus a clinic doctor ‘s salary is projected to grow from
current 58,499 drams to 83,400 drams, a clinic nurse will get 53,400
drams instead of current 38,000.

By the way, the draft budget also plans to raise salaries of civil
servants by 20 percent to 105,000 drams ($276) in 2007. Fulltime
schoolteachers would earn the average of 74,000 drams, or 27 percent
more than they do now.