Healthcare funding could fall as sports budget rises
Prime Minister Vasile Tofan has proposed increasing investment in sport by reducing expenditure on healthcare. He presented the idea at the Sport Across Generations festival in Nisporeni.
“Our country spends approximately 20 billion lei on healthcare. Across all budgets, we spend 500 million lei on sport. I now believe that we can reduce the 20 billion lei allocated to healthcare only if we increase this share of expenditure on sport,” Tofan said.
The government plans to use the additional sports funding to open 10 multifunctional sports centres and build 50 sports grounds near schools. The proposal would therefore make part of any reduction in healthcare funding conditional on higher spending on sports infrastructure.
Existing pressures raise questions over priorities
Investment in physical activity can improve public health, but Moldova’s healthcare system already faces serious difficulties. The country has a severe shortage of doctors, medical institutions remain chronically underfunded and the ageing population requires increasing levels of care.
Sports grounds beside schools will benefit children and local communities, but they cannot replace medical services, particularly for elderly people in rural areas. Cutting healthcare funding under these conditions risks placing further pressure on an already strained system.
The proposal recalls Alexander Lukashenko’s remarks during the Covid-19 pandemic, when he encouraged people to play ice hockey and said he could not see viruses flying around an ice rink. Those comments could at least be treated as an ill-judged joke, whereas Tofan presented his plan as a serious approach to public spending.
