This Monday morning, the boards of directors of Cafat and CHT decided to jointly challenge the policies on the debts and financing deficits of Ruamm. XPF 5 billion are included in New Caledonia’s 2021 budget and should be released, but 8 are still missing to complete the 2021 budget.
« We have been alerting for ten years. Today, we have no visibility beyond the month of July », Deplores Jacqueline Bernut, chairman of the board of directors of the CHT. Each year, there is a shortfall of 13 billion XPF francs to finance the territory’s health insurance system. For 2021, New Caledonia must pay at least 5 billion XPF in subsidies… But not enough to make up the deficit. Eight billion will still be missing and the operating budget of the CHT has already been cut by 3.4% in 2020. ” If Cafat were a company, Ruamm would be in bankruptcy », Confirms Jean-Pierre Kabar, chairman of the board of directors of Cafat.
4 billion in debt
And this deficit necessarily impacts the local economy. Today, the debts of the CHT amount to nearly 4 billion XPF of which 2.7 billion are owed to local businesses. Beyond penalizing small businesses, these accumulated debts could force them to stop all collaboration with the hospital. ” Solutions must be found so that the CHT can honor its debts to these companies », Insists Patrick Dupont, secretary of the CAFAT board of directors. As we know today, the payment period for the CHT is more than 12 months and can go up to 18 months. Suffice to say that many companies refuse to deliver the hospital without cash payment. With the impact on the operation of the establishment that this generates and in particular in terms of drug supply, investment in new medical equipment, etc. This could quickly degrade the quality of the care offered.
The actors of the Caledonian health system are therefore asking for the adoption of a recovery plan for Ruamm in order to ensure long-lasting functioning of medical services. This will have to include a human resources buffer to avoid the drain of medical skills. But to the absence of decisions of the previous government is added today the absence of government which prevents any reform of the health system. So much so that the players in the sector are now turning to Congress to intervene… How far will it take for decisions to be finally taken?
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