Heger: volume of health care in 2012 to equal that of 2011.

Health Minister Leos Heger has announced that the volume of health care in 2012 will be the same as in the preceding year, with hospitals´ budgets rising by 3% on average and doctors’ pay by 6.25%. In an aside to health care workers seeking the fulfilment of wage-increase promises made earlier this year, Mr Heger told journalists on Monday that the system’s 226-billion-crown budget for 2012 would not have been possible without the assistance of those who acquiesced to legislative and austerity measures earlier in 2011. The ministry’s directive on the matter entails a unification of the payments made to all hospitals, with more sought-after hospitals receiving more money. Investments in new medical equipment, buildings and massive development will remain on hold, and funding for laboratories will be decreased.