A final decision has not yet been taken. The National Health Insurance Company (CNAM), the Ministry of Health and the social partners must determine what proportion of the additional funds from the Compulsory Health Insurance Funds should be allocated to wages, and what proportion to the development of medical infrastructure and the expansion of public access to healthcare services.
According to CNAM data, as at 1 January 2026, there were 53,300 full-time equivalents employed within the compulsory health insurance system. The average salary for a doctor was 21,000 lei, for a junior doctor 11,600 lei, for nursing staff nearly 13,000 lei, and for junior medical staff 7,600 lei.
Calculations show that a 10 per cent pay rise from 1 January 2027 would require at least 1.1 billion lei. If, however, the increase were to be 15 per cent, the additional expenditure would amount to around 1.65 billion lei.
CNAM Director-General Ion Dodon stated at a meeting of the National Commission for Collective Bargaining that, according to the latest estimates, the revenues of the Compulsory Health Insurance Fund in 2027 could increase by approximately 1.47 billion lei.
However, this entire sum cannot be allocated to wage increases. The Fund’s resources are distributed across eight sub-programmes, some of which are not directly related to wages. A 15 per cent increase would exceed the projected growth in the Fund’s revenue.
Three-quarters of expenditure is on salaries
Salaries already account for a significant proportion – around 75 per cent – of the expenditure of healthcare institutions funded by compulsory health insurance.
According to Ion Dodon, when allocating additional funds, a balance must be struck between several priorities: ensuring investment, increasing salaries and maintaining the quality of healthcare.
‘We must reach a decision jointly with the Ministry of Health, with representatives of the government as a whole, and with social partners – by mutual agreement. This includes using the CNAM Administrative Council as a forum for discussion – on how we will spend these resources. Either on pay rises, or on investment in infrastructure – because healthcare workers’ workplaces must also meet the necessary standards – or on the procurement of healthcare services for the public, so that people pay less out of their own pockets, do not have to go abroad, and have access to healthcare in the Republic of Moldova,” noted Ion Dodon.
The Ministry of Health wants to wait for all the economic indicators
The Ministry of Health agrees with the company on the need to strike a balance between raising salaries and funding other needs of the healthcare system. The Ministry is awaiting macroeconomic forecasts from the Ministry of Economic Development and Digitalisation in order to assess the actual financial capacity for 2027 and determine how much can be allocated to increasing healthcare workers’ salaries.
‘75 per cent of expenditure goes on wages – that is an alarming figure. …We need to minimise this imbalance. Then, in due course, we must work together – based on the resources that will be assessed – to reach a well-founded decision by 1 January regarding the possibility of a pay rise for healthcare staff working within the compulsory health insurance system,” said State Secretary Andrei Uncuța.
Trade unions call for the preservation of purchasing power
Over the past six years, salaries in the healthcare sector have been increased eight times using funds from the Compulsory Health Insurance Fund. Some of these increases were substantial, whilst others ranged from 5 to 10 per cent, including for senior management.
However, the trade unions believe that when the authorities cite such figures, they must also present the ‘other side of the coin’ – taking into account inflation over recent years.
“We are therefore, at the very least, obliged to consider the extent to which inflation has already reduced – or, in effect, eroded – the purchasing power of wages, so that we can compensate for this,” says Igor Zubcu, chair of the National Confederation of Trade Unions of Moldova.
At the same time, the trade unions are also in favour of maintaining a balance between the interests of workers and patients, and hope to reach a joint decision by the end of the year through the relevant committees and the CNAM Administrative Council.
An ageing population requires strategic solutions
According to official data provided by the Ministry of Health, in 2020 there were 47.2 doctors per 10,000 inhabitants in Moldova; the current figure is 51.7 doctors per 10,000 inhabitants. No, there aren’t more doctors – the population has shrunk.
How, under such circumstances, the CNAM manages to ensure annual growth in the number of insured persons and in revenue for the Compulsory Health Insurance Fund is one of the most intriguing aspects of the situation.
Be that as it may, this positive trend is highly precarious.
The ageing coefficient of the population in Moldova has reached 25.9 per cent, meaning that roughly one in four of the country’s inhabitants is over 60 years old. With age, the prevalence of chronic diseases – including hypertension, diabetes and obesity – increases, and with it, the demand for medicines and associated expenditure also rises.
Health Minister Alexandru Gasnaș believes that these demographic changes require long-term planning for the healthcare system – covering at least the next 5–10 years.
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