The Ministry of Health has cut grants to its charities and organisations by more than $250,000.

Minister of Health Walter Roban told the House of Assembly the cuts total $278,000 from nine of its ten grants for the upcoming year.

The only grant not reduced was the Lady Cubitt Compassionate Association (LCCA) which provides aid to residents requiring treatment abroad.

LCCA's budget allocation remains estimated at $2 million even though last year's revised grant for the organisation required an additional $3 million to cover medical bills. And, after a year in which it received nothing, P.A.L.S. was given a grant of $85,000 this time around.

On Wednesday Mr. Roban said the cut grant money will be directed to programmes in the general administration area such as the H1N1 vaccine and education and rent for the environmental health section.

Mr. Roban said: "It will be noted that the allocation for general administration has increased three percent from $12.4 million to $12.8 million.

"The increase is really the transfer of grant funding [a 20 percent cut] to administration to support programmes including H1N1 Influenza A vaccine and education and rent for the environmental health section move.

"A total of $3.7 million was allocated for grants in the 2009/2010 original estimate. It will be noted that the revised estimate is anticipated to total $6.7 million or $3 million above the original estimate.

"It will be noted that the increase was granted in total to the LCCA for overseas medical care. The Ministry ensures that funding exists for the LCCA to carry out this important function.

"It is also important to note that it is the LCCA alone that did not see a 20 percent reduction in their grant for the upcoming fiscal year."

LCCA executive director Veronica Harvey explained there had been significant increases in medical costs, with Government required to cover expenses.

"We are simply administrators for the programme," she said. "It's a combination of over the years the numbers [of Bermudians being treated abroad] have gone up and the costs have gone up more than the grant."

Charities and organisations that will experience a cut include:

• The Bermuda Health Council, by $263,000

• St. John Ambulance Brigade, by $10,000

• Admiralty House, by $19,000

• Age Concern, by $26,000

• The Sexual Assault Resource Team, by $5,000

• Public health scholarships, by $30,000

• Project Action, by $5,000

• Bermuda Autism Support and Education, by $5,000

Age Concern executive director Claudette Fleming said she was not surprised by the reduced funding and the charity would struggle to ensure their services did not suffer.

Less money from the Government, she said, would require more energy being directed towards fundraising rather than helping.

She said: "We anticipated that there would be cuts given the current economic situation and have been advised that many donors in the private sector may be reducing donations as well, although fortunately we have not been impacted by a reduction in private sector donations at this time.

"What the shortage in overall donations will mean for us is that we will spend more time fundraising to make up for the dollars that may not be available, and while fundraising logically should yield more money it also requires money, manpower and time.

"In the short term, we do not intend to eliminate any of our services which include: information and advice through our call centre and web directories, the handyman programme and the offering of information sessions, discounts and concessions from our private sector LINK partners.

"In fact we intend to increase some of these services because they will be needed by seniors now more than ever."

St. John Ambulance Brigade received $50,000 last year and will receive $10,000 less this year. Chairman Anthony Goodfellow said the cut would make it very difficult for them to function.

He said: "There are certain areas of this Island that have not taken cuts. It's always the person who can least afford it that takes the cut and that's the non-profits.

"I am not sure how much it [cutting back on charity grants] is going to save at the end of the day."