A working meeting was held at the HIF with representatives of the Government headed by Prof. Dr Hristijan Mickoski, Prime Minister

A working meeting was held at the Health Insurance Fund of Macedonia with representatives of the Government headed by Prof. Dr Hristijan Mickoski, Prime Minister. This is the first visit by a Prime Minister to the Fund since 2012 and is a clear indication of this Government's commitment to improving healthcare. At this meeting, the work of the Fund in the first 100 days of the Government was presented. 
Within that framework, in addition to the first renewal of the Positive List since 2014, a measure was presented to address one of the biggest problems in healthcare, namely the growing debt of the 109 public health institutions (PHIs). In the first half of 2024 alone, the debt increased by 1 billion denars, that is, the debt increased from 4 to 5 billion denars, or around 81 million euros. This level of debt jeopardises the operation of several PHIs or may lead to their blocking. The public was informed about this problem.

The Fund's plan regarding the debt of the PHIs is to secure additional funds, while at the same time identifying the causes of the debt, which exist on both the revenue and expenditure sides. The reasons range from inadequate planning and financing to irresponsible management. By way of illustration, the necessary finances were not budgeted for the Clinic for Radiotherapy and Oncology despite publicly declared support, and there are numerous examples of irresponsible management. 

Identifying the causes of the debt is crucial in order to stop the creation of debt. At the same time, one of the most important matters is suppressing corruption and crime; there must be and will be accountability, because without it there will be no progress.
At the same time, through the supplementary state budget and savings, the Fund secured funds to reduce the debt by 2 billion denars, that is, to reduce it from 5 to 3 billion. The funds have been allocated according to the size of the budget and the debt of the PHIs, in all cities and all areas. Around one third of the PHIs will be fully relieved of debt, mainly health centres, and blocking will be avoided for most of them. The Public Institution Joint Services, which is currently blocked, will also be unblocked.

Reducing the debt to a sustainable level is the first step towards a full solution, which will take place during 2025. Reducing the debt will provide room for new measures, and the Fund has defined several packages of measures, namely: for oncology; for women, mothers and IVF; for children; cardiovascular diseases; regionalisation; ophthalmology; radiology and other areas. These packages will be announced in the coming period and will be implemented over the next six months. 

 The largest package will be for oncology, and 315 million denars, or over 5 million euros, will be secured for the Oncology Clinic alone. This package will include more than ten measures in both diagnostics and therapy, stated the Director General of the Health Insurance Fund, Sasho Klekovski. 
In parallel, increasing control and accountability and increasing finances are part of the path towards the recovery of public healthcare.
Finally, Director General Sasho Klekoski thanked Prof. Dr Hristijan Mickoski, Prime Minister of Macedonia, Gordana Kochovska Dimitrievska and the Ministry of Finance, the Minister of Health Dr Arben Taravari and the Ministry of Health for their support, as well as the directors of the PHIs, the sector directors, advisers and the employees of the Fund, who through hard work prepared the debt reduction plan in a very short time!