Dulkys: more funds will be needed for medics dealing with COVID-19

Funds for raising wages for medics have already been allocated, Lithuania's Health Minster Arunas Dulkys says, adding, however, that even more funding will be needed if the real need for bonuses for COVID-related work is taken into account.

In his words, wage increases were not planned in the 2019 and 2020 state budgets, and funds from the reserve of the Compulsory Social Insurance Fund (PSDF) were used of that purpose.

"No, it’s no true that no funding is planned. But the truth is that the pandemic eats much more funds than we planned, specifically for various bonuses," Dulkys told a press conference on Thursday.

In his words, more funds for medics will be allocated following a review of the PSDF budget.

"I believe we will announce certain figures together with the adjusted budget in the middle of this year, but I can already say that almost 46 million euros are planned for COVID-19 bonuses in the PSDF's 2021 budget, 26 million euros for services and also for wages increases for medics as of July 1," he said.