Meloni hails 'record' healthcare spending
Premier Giorgia Meloni said Thursday that spending on the national health service has reached record levels under her government in a message for the national day of healthcare professionals, CE Report quotes ANSA.
"We chose to allocate record funding to healthcare, bringing the National Health Fund up to 136.5 billion euros in 2025 for per capita expenditure of 2,317 euros," Meloni said.
"We have also made 1.3 billion euros available for investments in hospitals with the cohesion agreements signed in recent years with the regional governments and we have freed up a further 750 million euro to invest in healthcare with the revision of the NRRP (National Recovery and Resilience Plan) .
"Italy can boast an infrastructure of excellence in the National Health Service and health professions are the backbone of this system, which it is our duty to protect, enhance and strengthen.
"These professions contribute to ensuring that our healthcare system has the characteristics of universality, equality and solidarity that the whole world envies us for".
Unions representing Italian doctors and nurses staged a nationwide 24-hour strike in November to protest against the government's 2025 budget law.
The opposition and some medical associations say that health spending in relation to GDP is down and argue that the money allowed is insufficient to meet the sector's needs.
Meloni has said opposition parties have been spreading "falsehoods" about the government's health spending.
