The health insurance policy should cost thrice its current price, thinks Health Minister Larisa Catrinici, arguing that “health care is very expensive” and needs greater incomes to cover increasing costs. Catrinici made these statements on Friday at a news event dedicated to the summit of health ministers from 14 countries in Chisinau, Info-Prim Neo reports. While this year the health insurance policy has a price tag of 1,893 lei, the price announced for 2009 is 2,637.6 lei. Larisa Catrinici also said Moldova has seen more progress than regression in the health care sector and expressed her satisfaction with the quality of services offered by the medical institutions in the country. The mandatory health insurance system is producing results, especially in what concerns equal access to medical services, she added. Ion Ababii, ex-health minister and currently rector of the Medicine and Pharmacy University, also thinks the health care system runs smoothly in Moldova. At the same time, he believes that the cost of the policy “corresponds to expenses” and “the government does everything to raise salaries” in order to make it affordable for ordinary people, taking into account that at present the average monthly salary is around 2,500 lei. Ababii thinks that the greatest problem of the Moldovan public health care system is the outdated medical equipment. But he revealed that within the next three years, the European Commission will offer Moldova a €46m grant for purchases of medical equipment. At the summit of health ministers, Moldova signed a cooperation agreement with Albania in the area of health and medical sciences. According to Albania's Deputy Health Minister Zamira Sinovmeri, the accord will enable the two countries to exchange experience and avoid mistakes occurring separately. The ministers of health from 14 countries came together in Chisinau to discuss ways of reducing inequalities in the health care system and of ensuring access of all the citizens to high-standard medicine and medicaments.