Serbian Minister of Health Tomica Milosavljevic said today that the successful completion of the project for the reconstruction of 20 hospitals in Serbia and the Torlak Institute was a guarantee of new support from the European Investment Bank (EIB) for the reconstruction of four clinical centres, which will be completed in 2012.
Milosavljevic voiced hope that plans for the reconstruction of the clinical centres in Belgrade, Novi Sad, Nis and Kragujevac will be completed by December this year.
The previous project of reconstruction of 20 hospitals and the Torlak Institute was made possible by an EIB loan of €50 million, and Serbia invested an additional €20 million, so the total value was €70 million.
EIB representative John Davis said that the agreement concerning the reconstruction of hospitals which the Bank signed with Serbia envisaged certain procedures regarding the distribution of funds and public procurement, as well the presentation of regular reports on the implementation of the project.
Davis stressed that everything had to be done in accordance with EU directives, because the EIB does not approve funds unless there is solid evidence of how the funds are used, adding that the Bank has a good and active cooperation with Serbia.