The hospitals in the municipality of Chisinau face an acute shortage of specialists with secondary education, especially nurses in the primary healthcare sector, said the head of the Health Division Mihai Moldovanu. At a meeting held on March 16 to sum up the activities carried out by the Division last year, he said that the situation in Buiucani and Botanica districts is the most difficult. Moldovanu said that the problem is mainly due to the low salaries and the lack of dwellings. He told Info-Prim Neo that about one year ago, they suggested building social dwellings for doctors on the territory of hospitals as there is a lot of space. But the Ministry of Health did not accept. According to Moldovanu, the only solution is to include the doctors in the list of beneficiaries of social dwellings. The head of the Health Division also said that the beginning doctors have a salary of 750 lei. The municipal authorities cannot influence the size of the salary as it is fixed by the National Insurance Commission. The salary will be raised only when the Commission sets higher costs for a treated case. In another development, Mihai Moldovanu said that the medical institutions had been partly repaired in 2008. The largest part of the investments was directed to the Municipal Children’s Hospital “Valentin Ignatenco”. All the windows had been replaced there. On the other hand, the hospital’s director Nicolae Starciuc said that the institution needs guards because the doctors are often attacked by the patients. The façade of the Municipal Children’s Hospital No. 1 was renovated form resources allocated from European funds. Mihai Moldovanu also said that a number of hospitals were supplied with modern medical equipment. While presenting the report, Moldovanu criticized the way that the pregnant women are supervised, saying that process leaves much to be desired. He also said that the number of cases of serious tuberculosis in children and of pneumonia has increased. 32 of the 40 persons that died of pneumonia were able to work. Yet, most of the deaths are caused by cardio-vascular diseases, followed by malignant tumors, traumas and poisonings.