KIEV, Nov. 9 – The top economic advisor to President Viktor Yushchenko said Monday a bill requiring the National Bank of Ukraine to print one billion hryvnias to fight swine flu epidemic must be vetoed.

Oleksandr Shlapak, the first deputy chief of staff at the Yushchenko office, said the bill was “economically wrong” and must be changed to make sure the money is available through other sources.

“I will advise the president to veto the bill in order to change the sources,” Shlapak said in an interview with Channel 5. “These must be budgetary funds, not generated by [monetary] emission.”

The bill was overwhelmingly approved by Parliament on Nov. 3 in reaction to a panic caused by the fast spread of the flu-like illnesses in western regions of Ukraine that are believed to be swine flu, or (A)H1N1.

But Yushchenko has recently said that the government has been overreacting to the outbreak by shutting down schools and public gatherings for three weeks, and considering restriction of movement by the people between Ukrainian regions.

At least 155 people died from flu-like illnesses over the past three weeks with almost one million people infected with the virus, according to the Healthcare Ministry.

At least 48,972 people are hospitalized with 446 undergoing intensive care, according to the ministry.

The epidemic, which started three regions, now has spread to in 13 out of 25 Ukrainian regions, according to the ministry.

Shlapak said that the president will probably submit his own bill to Parliament to make sure that the money to fight the flu will be provided through commercial bank borrowing.

“He has undertaken commitment jointly with the banking system to find this money and to finance this bill immediately,” Shlapak said.

The bill, which was backed by 401 lawmakers in the 450-seat legislature, called for the money to be provided by the National Bank of Ukraine.

Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, whose government faces a financial crunch, urged Yushchenko to sign the bill as soon as possible to unlock the spending.

The money is supposed to be spent on purchases of medicines and equipment that is needed for diagnosis of the swine flu, according to the government. (tl/ez)