A portion of the debt to drug wholesalers will be paid on Friday, Finance Minister Zdravko Maric announced on Wednesday.

The government paid HRK 300 million of the debt to drug wholesalers on 23 October, when the state liabilities stood at about HRK 5 billion. The government reassured them that a portion of the debt, that is HRK 1.84 billion, would be covered soon.

The remaining HRK 1.54 billion will be paid on Friday, Maric told reporters after a meeting of the national council for the adoption of the euro in Zagreb on Wednesday.

“As for the money to cover the costs of the state-owned hospitals, it was envisaged in the proposal for budget revision,” the minister said.

He said that the aim was to ensure that payments were made as provided for under the law, noting that health-sector liabilities were still rising by more than HRK 200 million monthly.

Maric said that liabilities to drug wholesalers accounted for about a half of the health sector’s debt.

“We must become aware that healthcare comes at a cost and we need to define what sort of healthcare we want and how much it will cost while at the same time doing all we can to rationalise the system and spending,” Maric said.