A doctor in Moldova should be paid a thrice larger salary than the current one so as to prevent corruption in the health system. Thus, the average salary of a medical worker should be 12,000 to 15,000 lei, Minister of Health Mircea Buga said in the talk show “Reply” on Prime TV channel, IPN reports.

“We will make effort not only to increase the public allocations, but also to redistribute hospitals’ financial resources by optimizing their use and by better managing the money intended for salaries. This way we will manage to cope with the salary raises. In any state, the highest salaries are paid to doctors and lawyers. Our pay system is outdated, inherited from the Soviet period. We want to financially motivate the doctors, depending on their performance, but we will be unable to substantially increase the salaries without sufficient funds,” stated Mircea Buga.

He also said that corruption in the health system affects the credibility of the whole system, while the salary is an element that supports the eradication of corruption. The state social insurance budget for this year was planned and the salaries of doctors are expected to be raised in the second half of this year.

In the same connection, Mircea Buga said the health system of Moldova is now ready to cope with a flu pandemic. As many as 588 cases of flu have been recorded in Moldova by March 1, a lower number compared with last year. There were confirmed seven cases of death from flu. None of the persons who died had been vaccinated against flu.