Politicians will vote on a new polyclinic building

Today, the members of the Alytus City Municipal Council will have to decide on a new polyclinic building in the hospital yard, a vote will be taken on the preparation of the technical project.

According to the Mayor of Alytus, Nerijaus Cesiulis, the Ministry of Health Protection is giving almost 700,000 to the city municipality this year due to the ongoing reform of health care institutions. euro investments, and the municipality must decide where they will be invested.

“We want to invest those funds in our property, instead of staying in the old polyclinic building belonging to the Alytus district municipality, and moving the medical services to a modernly equipped new building,” said N. Cesiulis to “Dainava’s word”.

According to the mayor, the first step, after the approval of the council, will be the preparation of the technical project of the polyclinic building, which will probably take about a year. It must provide for car parking, workplaces so that doctors can work comfortably, and patients can easily visit.

“Once the project is ready, it will be presented to the council. We will see what funds we will put where – whether we borrow, whether the state and the Alytus district municipality will contribute, or whether we will finance from our own earned funds. After arranging the financial flows, we will make a decision on construction. How much the construction of the polyclinic will cost will become clear only after the preparation of the technical project, we cannot speculate on the numbers now. We want the new building to be about 3,600 square meters. We will want to allocate part of the area for rent – for the provision of pharmacy, optics and other services that the polyclinic will not provide, so that the building can earn funds and support itself”, explained the head of the city of Alytus.

Andrius Jučas, the representative of the opposition in the council, the chairman of the conservative faction, said that there are no objections in principle that Alytus needs a modern polyclinic. “Now an idea is presented without any justification, only one location is proposed – the hospital yard, other alternatives are not considered. The city of Alytus also has other unused buildings, for example, the Children’s Care Home, a similar-sized renovated building that could perhaps be adapted to the functions of a polyclinic,” the council member shared his thoughts.

“Today, the council will vote that the municipality participates in the financing of the project of the Ministry of Health, and it will be allocated about 700 thousand. euros. After the project is approved, we undertake to build a polyclinic. Early yesterday morning, I presented an alternative to this draft decision, so that after preparing the technical project and naming the funding sources, the project would be presented to the council again. This would be an additional safeguard”, said A. Jučas, emphasizing that, after preparing the technical project, its implementation could be stopped if disproportionate investment amounts, loans with high interest were revealed.

According to A. Jučas, too little has been discussed about this topic. In his opinion, when accepting projects of such scope, there must be serious discussions.

After the introduction of the idea of ​​a medical campus, the new polyclinic building sparked heated discussions on social networks. The people of Alysti questioned the need for a new building, calling its construction a waste of budget funds, expressing the opinion that other ways can be found to improve the quality of medical services.

Mayor N. Cesiulis assured that he fully understands that a modern polyclinic building alone is not enough to provide quality medical services, highly qualified doctors must work there.

“We promise to offer doctors who come to work in Alytus one of the largest salary supplements in the country – 10 thousand euros. Attracting specialists is difficult, there is a competitive battle for them, because only a few specialists in some fields are trained per year, while the state needs several dozen of them. Therefore, by offering bigger bonuses and better working conditions, there is a greater chance that we will attract them. Alytus becomes a regional city, where all services: primary and secondary level – must be ensured for the residents. During the implementation of the health care reform, medical services are decreasing throughout the region, while they are increasing in Alytus, and we are investing in them,” said N. Cesiulis.